SowetanLive reports that Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Minewoekrs and Construction Union (Amcu), says he will start a fund with his own salary to help retrieve the bodies of three Lily Mine workers who were trapped when the mine’s crown pillar collapsed on 5 February 2016.
Speaking at the fourth anniversary of the tragic incident that claimed the lives of Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyarenda, Mathunjwa also promised to build the three families decent houses this year. The three miners died when a lamp-room container they were working in was swallowed up in a sinkhole. Mathunjwa said he had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to assist with the situation at Lily Mine and also to minister Gwede Mantashe, but there had been no response. "This year these three bodies must come out, let's start a campaign to retrieve these bodies. I'm starting with my salary at the end of this month and I call for you to do the same and as Amcu we have friends and political parties that are our friends, we are going to retrieve these bodies. I'm calling for the president to declare Lily Mine as a national disaster,” Mathunjwa exhorted. There was drama at the anniversary event when an ANC branch chairperson at Lowscreek, Elfus Vilakazi, and a community member were manhandled and kicked out by former mineworkers. At the same time Michael McChesney, CEO of Vantage Gold Fields, which owns Lily Mine, stormed out when potential buyers of the mine, Fred Arendse of Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation, was called to speak on stage. McChesney explained that he had to leave because people who were not supposed to be part of the event had hijacked it.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mandla Khoza at SowetanLive
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