Search for closure

YESTERDAY marked a year since Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyarende were last seen.

The three worked at Vantage Goldfields’ Lily Gold Mine at Barberton in Mpumalanga. Their office, the “lamp room”, was a container underground. It was the last stop before miners entered the mine and where they charged their headlamps.

One year ago, there was a cave-in and the lamp room was swallowed up by the earth.

Initially, rescue teams picked up taps from inside the container about 80m underground. There was a lot of anxiety as rescuers went to work. Families of the three workers were called in, and were offered support as everyone waited and hoped for the best. Several attempts were made to retrieve the container, but all failed.

A year later, mine authorities have still not been able to pinpoint the lamp room’s location. Furthermore, it is now too dangerous to pursue the search.

The incident shut down operations at the mine and the company was put under administration.

About R200 million is needed to reopen the mine and continue with efforts to recover the container. But nobody has come forward with the money.

The grieving families have been promised R200 000 each while R50 000 was promised to each of the families of 76 other mine workers who were rescued.

The mining company remained liable for the payment while Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said yesterday that finding the “lamp room” and the three mine workers remained a priority.

Nkambule, Mnisi and Nyarende went to work on that fateful day and all they wanted to do was earn a living. Mining related deaths continue to remind us of some of the dangers mineworkers are exposed to despite all the safety mechanisms in place.

Minister Zwane is right. Finding the lamp room is a priority. For the families of Nkambule, Mnisi and Nyarende, knowing that their loved ones are still 80m down in the belly of the earth, must be extremely painful.

The difficulty of the task at hand is understood, but everything possible must be done to help the families find closure.