Ongoing impasse regarding Lily mine tragedy a violation of the rights of deceased miners' families, says ActionSA

JOHANNESBURG - ActionSA has accused parties involved in the ongoing impasse regarding the Lily mine tragedy in Mpumalanga of violating the fundamental rights of the deceased miners and their families.

The party earlier this week launched legal action in the Gauteng High Court to grant it, among others, access to the site and to facilitate recovery operations for the remains of Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi.

It claims business rescue practitioner, Robert Devereux and mining company, Makonjwaan imperial mining have at times neglected to provide responses or refused to grant access to the site for recovery operations by the party.

It’s been nine years since the trio died at the Mpumalanga mine. 

Despite numerous calls by their families for the recovery of their mortal remains, the three remain underground. 

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said this is a violation

"The human rights of the bereaved lily mine families are not less important than those of the families on whose behalf the South African government has and continues to spend hundreds of millions of rands retrieving the remains of the loved ones who died on foreign lands during the anti-apartheid struggle or the 14 South African soldiers who were killed recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," said Mashaba.