Parliament slams Ekapa mine’s retrenchment talk amid search for trapped miners

Recovery operations are continuing for five miners trapped at the Ekapa mine in Kimberley.

The miners were trapped following a mudslide earlier this week.

Parliament’s mineral resources committee chairperson, Mikateko Mahlaule, said they were shocked to learn that Ekapa mining could invoke section 189, signalling possible retrenchments, while efforts to recover the missing staffers are still ongoing.

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Mahlaule stressed that the priority must be of bringing five miners to the surface before any talks about layoffs or closure.

“We must start that discussion only when the five people are brought to the surface. We can't have another Lily Mine story. 

“It would be very unacceptable of Ekapa to put such devastating experience to the nation and the families of the people who have supposedly disappeared.”