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BARBERTON - Former employees and families of three mine workers of Mpumalanga’s Lily Mine ,who died seven years ago have insisted that they will not allow ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, and COSATU to commemorate Workers Day with them because they have done nothing to help them.

The entrance to the gold mine in Louisville near Barberton collapsed on February 5, 2016. Three workers – Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi – sank with the container office they were working in.

Mpumalanga ANC Chairperson Mandla Ndlovu confirmed yesterday morning that Mbalula would be at Lily Mine on the day. However, the former workers and the three families’ Spokesperson, Harry Mazibuko, said that the ANC and its alliance partners would not be allowed to address their event. “We are waiting for them to come, and we will not allow them here because they did not consult us. We would welcome them if they engaged the families properly and showed respect to them before their posturing,” Mazibuko said.

Mazibuko added that the former workers and the three families set-up a camp outside the mine four years ago to draw attention to their plight, and the ANC and COSATU were nowhere to be found.

Lily Mine and its sister mine, Barbrook, were shut down after the collapse and more than 1 000 workers lost their jobs. The mines were put under business rescue. However, the mines’ Australian owners, Vantage Goldfields, have put up a strong fight ever since by rejecting several potential investors.