ActionSA Calls Out Government’s Double Standards as Illegal Foreigners Are Rescued While Lily Mine Families Wait
Thoko Mashiane MPL
ActionSA ActionSA Member of Mpumalanga Legislature
ActionSA is deeply alarmed by the ongoing operation in the Barberton area where approximately 1,000 illegal immigrants and illegal miners are currently being retrieved from underground shafts.
This incident confirms what we have long warned: Mpumalanga’s borders remain dangerously porous, and government has failed to effectively manage illegal migration and mining. The scale of this crisis not only endangers the rule of law but places entire communities at risk.
What is most painful, however, is the glaring double standard. While illegal foreign nationals are being rescued with urgency, the remains of the three South African workers trapped at Lily Mine since 2016 have yet to be retrieved. Their families continue to wait in anguish for justice and closure, more than nine years later.
This is a damning indictment on the state’s priorities. ActionSA reiterates its call for the urgent retrieval of the Lily Mine victims and for the implementation of stronger border control measures. We further demand that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy take accountability for the unchecked proliferation of illegal mining across the province.
Mpumalanga communities deserve better. South African lives cannot continue to be disregarded in favour of political convenience and reactive policing.
ActionSA Calls Out Government’s Double Standards as Illegal Foreigners Are Rescued While Lily Mine Families Wait
ActionSA is deeply alarmed by the ongoing operation in the Barberton area where approximately 1,000 illegal immigrants and illegal miners are currently being retrieved from underground shafts.
This incident confirms what we have long warned: Mpumalanga’s borders remain dangerously porous, and government has failed to effectively manage illegal migration and mining. The scale of this crisis not only endangers the rule of law but places entire communities at risk.
What is most painful, however, is the glaring double standard. While illegal foreign nationals are being rescued with urgency, the remains of the three South African workers trapped at Lily Mine since 2016 have yet to be retrieved. Their families continue to wait in anguish for justice and closure, more than nine years later.
This is a damning indictment on the state’s priorities. ActionSA reiterates its call for the urgent retrieval of the Lily Mine victims and for the implementation of stronger border control measures. We further demand that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy take accountability for the unchecked proliferation of illegal mining across the province.
Mpumalanga communities deserve better. South African lives cannot continue to be disregarded in favour of political convenience and reactive policing.