Trapped Lily Mine workers’ families unhappy with government’s failure in retrieving their remains

The family members of the three miners who remain trapped underground at the Lily Mine at Louisville near Barberton, Mpumalanga are blaming government for its failure to intervene in retrieving their remains to date.

Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Nkambule and Solomon  Nyarenda remain trapped underground since 2016.

Potential investors had interests in taking over the mine, however, the owners of the mine disagreed on the legal matters as the issue was still in the hands of the High Court.

The families spokesperson Henry Mazibuko says all they want is to retrieve the container.

“As we are camping here, we are now 775 days [since that accident happened]. We are close to a thousand days camping outside the mine demanding the very same thing that where is our government to assist us. Because if [I can] make an example, [of an incident that] happened in Chile in 2010, miners were trapped over 688 meters underground but because of the interventions of the Chile government, the miners were rescued,” says Mazibuko.

VIDEO: Three bodies of Lily Mine workers still not retrieved

In April 2021, the group of former Lily mine workers and families of the three workers who were trapped underground were attacked and their belongings set alight.

After the attack, the group said the perpetrators were known to them and that they have attacked them before.

Meanwhile, ActionSA says it is concerned about the way police are handling the case relating to the arrest of a prime suspect in the torching of a campsite of former workers as well as the families of three trapped miners whose bodies are still underground at the Lily Mine in Low’s Creek near Barberton in Mpumalanga.

Action SA says in a statement that police had told lawyers of the group camping outside the Lily Mine that a docket of the prime suspect Solomon Kaizer Gwebu had been lost and later said it had been found.

ActionSA is now considering writing to the Provincial Police Commissioner demanding an investigation into the matter.

The fifth commemoration of the disaster: