Nine years of pain - the Lily Mine story

Lily Mine, situated in Louisville outside Barberton, collapsed on February 5 2016 and three workers were buried underground. The owner of the gold mine, Vantage Goldfields from Australia, decided to put it under business rescue and 1 000 workers lost their jobs. Since then, Vantage Goldfields has refused to sell the mine to the only bidder standing, Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation (SSC). DMRE put a condition that a new investor should prioritise finding the bodies of the three workers before extracting gold. With Vantage fighting tooth and nail to avoid selling to SSC, the bereaved families are not finding closure. According to a DMRE inquiry, Vantage Goldfields management was negligent as they defied expert advice from a rock specialist that could have avoided the collapse. Despite this, DMRE has given Vantage permission to re-open the mines and the company has not produced any proof of funding. There is no talk of prosecuting the mine's management as the DMRE inquiry recommended. The business rescue practitioner has been accused of bias to Vantage to the extent of defying a court order to draft new plans in favour of SSC's bid. There more questions than answers. Former worker and union representative, Harry Mazibuko, talks to us on the 9th commemoration of the tragedy.