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The Congress of South African Trade Unions totally disapproves of the decision by Lily Mine's senior management to resume operations at the mine ,while three mine workers, Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyerenda are still buried underground. This is not just insensitive but also point to the fact that the mine is prioritising profits before workers.

The decision to resume operations before the rescue operations have been finalised proves that Lily Mine views workers as cheap labour that is easily disposable.

It is shocking to hear that one of the unions ,that represent mostly white surface workers ,has been urging the mine management to reopen the mine and forget about the trapped miners. The families of the trapped miners deserve to see their loved ones rescued and brought to the surface, so that they can get closure.

These families and the injured miners are yet to receive a cent from the mine management and from government ,despite the promises that were made in front of the media by both institutions. The department of Mineral Resources, Minster Mosebenzi Zwane has abandoned the Lily Mine workers and left them at the mercy of the marauding mine profiteers. He has also failed to make the payments that he promised to the workers.

It is galling to see that both the mine management and the department have treated the Lily Mine disaster as a public relations problem, instead of genuinely assisting the injured workers and the families of the trapped workers.If Lily Mine cannot bring to the surface the trapped miners , how can they guarantee the safety of the workers they want to send underground. We call on both the department of Labour and Mineral Resources to stop the deadly mining operations at Lily Mine and we also demand that the trapped workers be rescued first and the injured miners compensated ,before the mine can invest money on reopening the mine.

Issued by COSATU