ActionSA launches legal action to gain access to Lily mine
February five marked 9 years since Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyerende and Yvonne Mnisi died at the mine.
FILE: ActionSA Commemorates 8th Year Commemoration of Lily Mine Tragedy. Picture: ActionSA/X
JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA has launched legal action in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to gain access to the Lily mine in Mpumalanga.
The party wants to facilitate the recovery operations of the miners who died there at the mine in 2016.
February five marked 9 years since Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyerende and Yvonne Mnisi died at the mine.
Their remains have not been retrieved despite numerous calls from their families.
Almost a decade later, the raging battle to retrieve the three miners who perished underground at the Mpumalanga mine continues.
READ: Lily Mine families again call for bodies of their family members to be retrieved
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba is now seeking the intervention of the Gauteng High Court following several failed attempts to assist the bereaved families.
Mashaba wants, among others, a waiver of the business rescue practitioner, Robert Devereux and mining company, Makonjwaan Imperial Mining's consent for the recovery operation and for the parties to grant reasonable access to the lily mine for the operation.
In an affidavit, Mashaba claims ActionSA addressed a written request toDevereuxx for consent to engage a qualified recovery team to retrieve the bodies but was allegedly met with no response.
This, Mashaba said adds to the grief of the families of the miners and robs them of their closure.
"It is also in accordance with the sacred African custom for their remains to be retrieved, returned home and afforded decent burial(s) for a proper closure."
Mashaba has previously been accused by Mineral Resources and Energy minister, Gwede Mantashe of playing political ball with the 2016 tragedy – a claim Mantashe denies.