Lily Mine disaster: Solidarity to assist inquiry into cause of mine collapse

31 March 2016  

Trade union Solidarity announced that it would give its assistance to the inquiry into the cause of the collapse of the Lily Mine outside Barberton. This entails, among other things that the union will disclose confidential information concerning the cause of the disaster during the investigation. 

The trade union last night and this morning met with acting Director General of Mineral Resources, David Msiza, and the management of the Lily mine.

According to Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis, the union has decided to only disclose the confidential information it consists over to the DMR and the management of the mine due to the sensitivity of the information and the crucial phase within which the investigation is currently.

“We decided to initially deal with the information as confidential as it is essential that the inquiry should be allowed to take its course. In this way we want to prevent the mine from closing down and hundreds of workers losing their jobs.

“The safety of our members and the mines employees are, however, our first priority. Meanwhile, we will also assist the management of the mine in their search for the trapped miners so that their family members can gain closure. Should we have disclosed the sensitive information concerning the cause of the collapse of the mine today, the search for the trapped mine workers would have been delayed further,” Du Plessis said.

Du Plessis said Solidarity have also requested the management of the mine not to intimidate any person who wants to disclose other relevant information for the purposes of the inquiry.

He also emphasised that the tension and conflict between Solidarity and the mine’s management could have been averted had the management recognised the trade union as a strategic player amid the crisis.

“This has impaired the relationship between Solidarity and the management. However, the relationship was restored during talks this morning and a protocol for future communication and engagement was agreed upon,” Du Plessis said.

Issued by Gideon du Plessis, General Secretary, Solidarity, 31 March 2016