Dear Fellow South Africans,
The mine is roughly a four-hour drive from Johannesburg, but I take the drive often to visit the families of Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule, and Yvonne Mnisi – who were engulfed in a sinkhole at the mine on 5 February 2016 due to negligence by several role-players.
The tragedy that occurred at Lily Mine has haunted me ever since I learned of it. It is symbolic of the cruelty of our government where – despite several court rulings demanding action and justice for the victim’s families – they have decided to ignore the families’ pleas.
The Mbombela Magistrate’s Court inquest in mid-October last year confirmed that individuals, including our government, should be criminally prosecuted for the neglect that caused the tragedy, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has to date failed to take any action.
In written correspondence to me at the beginning of December, the NPA provincial head simply told me that they’ll decide to prosecute after the holiday period. I’ve not heard from them since.
This is why I refuse to give up on the Lily Mine victims’ families. Like all of us South Africans, they deserve justice for the crimes that have been committed against them. Those who have been found lacking by our courts, including the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, should be held responsible.
ActionSA has been supporting the victims’ families from the days of the People’s Dialogue before we were formally launched. We have repeatedly written to the business rescue practitioners to have the business rescue plan implemented and the mine reopened to retrieve the victims’ bodies.
We have spent thousands on legal fees trying to force the NPA to take action, and in the coming weeks, our legal representatives will undertake additional legal action to finally bring justice to the victims’ families.
I personally refuse to live in a society where tragedies such as Lily Mine occur, and we fail to support the victims and the families because of the myriad crises facing South Africa due to the ruling party’s failures.
We simply cannot become numb to the pain and suffering of those around us and, therefore, we need to give the victims and their families the justice they deserve.
Every tragedy that occurs in South Africa, every single time a woman gets raped, or someone gets killed, we should be outraged and sustain that outrage until action is taken.
For as long as I am alive, I will work to ensure justice for the Lily Mine families. I will work tirelessly to ensure justice for all the victims of abuse and crime in South Africa. Because one tragedy is one too many; we should never become accustomed to it.
Next year, I look forward to returning to Lily Mine, not to commemorate the tragedy that occurred, but to celebrate that the bodies of the three miners have finally been retrieved and the families received the justice they deserve.
Justice is possible, but we should never allow ourselves to become complacent. Action by everyday South Africans is required for justice to occur, and action is what we are taking.
Presidency Newsletter
We shouldn’t become numb to tragedies around us
Dear Fellow South Africans,
The mine is roughly a four-hour drive from Johannesburg, but I take the drive often to visit the families of Solomon Nyirenda, Pretty Nkambule, and Yvonne Mnisi – who were engulfed in a sinkhole at the mine on 5 February 2016 due to negligence by several role-players.
The tragedy that occurred at Lily Mine has haunted me ever since I learned of it. It is symbolic of the cruelty of our government where – despite several court rulings demanding action and justice for the victim’s families – they have decided to ignore the families’ pleas.
The Mbombela Magistrate’s Court inquest in mid-October last year confirmed that individuals, including our government, should be criminally prosecuted for the neglect that caused the tragedy, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has to date failed to take any action.
In written correspondence to me at the beginning of December, the NPA provincial head simply told me that they’ll decide to prosecute after the holiday period. I’ve not heard from them since.
This is why I refuse to give up on the Lily Mine victims’ families. Like all of us South Africans, they deserve justice for the crimes that have been committed against them. Those who have been found lacking by our courts, including the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, should be held responsible.
ActionSA has been supporting the victims’ families from the days of the People’s Dialogue before we were formally launched. We have repeatedly written to the business rescue practitioners to have the business rescue plan implemented and the mine reopened to retrieve the victims’ bodies.
We have spent thousands on legal fees trying to force the NPA to take action, and in the coming weeks, our legal representatives will undertake additional legal action to finally bring justice to the victims’ families.
I personally refuse to live in a society where tragedies such as Lily Mine occur, and we fail to support the victims and the families because of the myriad crises facing South Africa due to the ruling party’s failures.
We simply cannot become numb to the pain and suffering of those around us and, therefore, we need to give the victims and their families the justice they deserve.
Every tragedy that occurs in South Africa, every single time a woman gets raped, or someone gets killed, we should be outraged and sustain that outrage until action is taken.
For as long as I am alive, I will work to ensure justice for the Lily Mine families. I will work tirelessly to ensure justice for all the victims of abuse and crime in South Africa. Because one tragedy is one too many; we should never become accustomed to it.
Next year, I look forward to returning to Lily Mine, not to commemorate the tragedy that occurred, but to celebrate that the bodies of the three miners have finally been retrieved and the families received the justice they deserve.
Justice is possible, but we should never allow ourselves to become complacent. Action by everyday South Africans is required for justice to occur, and action is what we are taking.
Yours in service,
Herman Mashaba
ActionSA President
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