News24 reports that failure to pay workers at Mpumalanga's collapsed Lily Mine resulted in a massive protest involving local residents and more than 700 disgruntled miners on Thursday morning.  

On 5 February, a shaft collapse caused a huge sinkhole at the mine into which three workers disappeared.  The mine, owned by Vantage Goldfields, said it had paid workers R650 each after failing to secure funding to pay their April salaries.  The protesters blockaded the road to the mine on Thursday.  Business rescue practitioner Rob Devereux said that no funding had been secured to pay salaries or sink a new shaft, but there were still some options available.  Trade union Solidarity’s Gideon du Plessis said poor communication was taking its toll as workers had expected their full salaries last Friday.

• Read this report by Hanti Schrader in full at News24
• See too, Lilly mine workers to receive food parcels after a R650 income, at SABC News

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