NUM rejects Lily Mine’s business rescue administration

This comes after the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the majority union at the mine, over the weekend said they supported the decision by the owners of the Lily Mine to go into business rescue.

Trade union Solidarity last week also said that Lily Mine’s application for business rescue was the only option left for the mine and its employees.

But the NUM rejected the management decision to put the mine on a business rescue administration.

Joseph Montisetse, NUM deputy president, in a statement on Monday, said Lily Mine was running away from its responsibility to rescue the lives of the black Africans who were still trapped underground.

“Why would the Department of Mineral Resources agree to this decision? How can a company that is responsible for such a horrible tragedy be given a leeway to escape the responsibility?” Montisetse asked.

The mine was the site of a disaster in which three workers – Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Mabuza and Solomon Nyarenda – got trapped underground on February 5 when the container they were working in fell into a sinkhole created by a collapsed crown pillar, before it was covered by huge rocks.

After several failed attempts, it was decided that a new plan to reach and recover the container would be implemented, but this would take six months to complete.

Mining operations have been halted since the disaster, hence management’s decision to file for business rescue to keep paying salaries.

Lily Mine spokesperson, Coetzee Zietsman, on Monday maintained that the business rescue process would give the company time and protection to raise the necessary funds to resume operations.

But Montisetse said the NUM was appealing to the office of the Presidency to intervene and stop the business rescue.

“Is it because the trapped mine workers are black and that is why the company had stopped the rescue mission? It is very clear that mining companies do not care about the lives of black mine workers. We wonder if the company was going to behave the same if the trapped mine workers were white. We believe that the company must first take responsibility to rescue the trapped mine workers,” Montisetse said.

Montisetse said the NUM would fight tooth and nail to make sure that the trapped workers were rescued dead or alive so that their families could find closure. - ANA