Families of the deceased Lily mine victims who were engulfed in a sinkhole more than eight years ago are yet to receive justice for their lost loved ones.
This is as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was yet to make a decision on whether it would institute criminal charges.
Late last year, the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court had ruled that the NPA should consider criminal prosecution.
The court also ruled that the Mineral Resources Department should be prosecuted.
In 2020, ActionSA president Herman Mashaba filed an application to force the government and other stakeholders to investigate the matter.
At the time, Mashaba did this to compel the government to retrieve the remains of the three mineworkers – Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyirenda – trapped underground on February 5, 2016.
On Monday, Mashaba together with the victims’ families led a march outside the NPA offices in Pretoria.
The march was a demonstration to the prosecuting authority that families were not happy with the pace at which the NPA was dealing with the matter.
Addressing protesters, Mashaba said they were concerned that seven months after the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court found, in mid-October last year, that the NPA should consider criminal prosecution against individuals for the Lily Mine tragedy, the NPA was yet to make a decision on possible prosecution.
Mashaba said ActionSA had repeatedly consulted the NPA on whether a decision on criminal prosecutions has been made or not.
“After being promised in December that a decision would be made in January, the NPA has yet to make any decision about possible criminal prosecutions.
“Instead, the NPA gives excuse after excuse as to why a decision on possible prosecutions has not taken place while the families of Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule and Yvonne Mnisi, who were engulfed in a sinkhole at the mine, more than eight years ago, await closure and justice for the tragedy.
“In the wake of my first visit to the Lily Mine in 2020 to meet with the victims’ families where they have camped outside the mine, for over six years to date, I pledged to bring justice to the families,” Mashaba said.
He said his party’s objective was to see the mine shaft reopened in order to retrieve the container in which the three victims were entombed, to allow them to provide proper burial for their loved ones.
Mashaba further said part of that was also to secure compensation for the families of the affected miners, and ensuring that those who were liable for the tragedy were criminally prosecuted.
“Since I became involved in the matter, we received power of attorney from the families to pursue, if necessary, civil and criminal litigation against the parties found liable. It is, therefore, imperative that the NPA makes a decision on whether to prosecute so as to allow ActionSA to consider its options, legal or otherwise.
“I am unwilling to live in a society where tragedies such as Lily Mine occur, and we fail to support the victims and the families because of the myriad crises facing South Africa due to the ruling party’s failures.
“We cannot become numb to the pain and suffering of those around us and therefore need to give the victims and their families the justice they deserve.”
He further said that ActionSA believed that the business plan should urgently be tabled to creditors for implementation as it would help to retrieve the miners’ bodies.
“The Business Rescue Practitioners are in contempt of three court orders. It is important to remind South Africans and the world that Vantage Goldfield and the Department of Minerals and Energy had lied to them about the retrievability of this container after its collapse.
“It took ActionSA, at a massive legal cost, to expose these lies. ActionSA remains resolute in our commitment to help retrieve the bodies of the three miners and will continue to assist the families in any way possible.
“We cannot allow people to forget what happened at Lily Mine on 05 February 2016, and we need to ensure justice for the miners and their families,” he concluded.
Attempts to get a comment from NPA’s spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
The Star