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ActionSA has filed court papers in the Johannesburg High Court under Case Number 2025-018398 to demand access, at our own cost, to the Lily Mine site and to appoint a qualified and experienced mine rescue company to retrieve the container. This follows a frustrating combination of silence and refusal from both the mine authorities and the government, particularly the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, to fulfil their promises to retrieve the container.

It has been nine years since that tragic day on 5 February 2016, when a container with three mine workers—Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi, and Solomon Nyirenda—collapsed following an implosion at the Lily Mine in Mpumalanga, claiming all three innocent lives. For nine years, the bereaved families, including the young children left behind, the youngest only five months old at the time, have knocked on every door, pleading for the container to be retrieved so they can finally lay their loved ones to rest.

ActionSA became involved in the calls for the retrieval of the container as soon as the tragedy was brought to its attention and has stood by the families ever since. ActionSA has provided extensive material and legal assistance, including exposing the false claims that the container could not be retrieved. At the families’ request, ActionSA also spearheaded the recent ninth commemoration of the tragedy outside the gates of Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on Tuesday, 5 February 2025.

The nature of ActionSA's and the bereaved families' application is straightforward:

For the court to grant leave for the engagement of a qualified and professional recovery team and/or company to retrieve the bodies of the deceased miners trapped beneath Lily Mine.

Waiving the requirement for the consent of Mr Devereux (the appointed Business Rescue Practitioner) and/or MIMCO (the mine owner) to facilitate the recovery operation.

Directing that all recovery operations be conducted entirely at ActionSA’s cost, imposing no financial or legal burden on Mr Devereux, MIMCO, or the State.

Directing Mr Devereux and/or MIMCO to provide reasonable access to Lily Mine and necessary cooperation for the safe and efficient execution of the recovery operation.

If none of ActionSA’s interventions over the years demonstrate its unwavering commitment to standing alongside the bereaved families until the end of this painful journey, then this latest legal action certainly does. 

ActionSA’s dedication to securing justice for these families, an issue that has become political due to the negligence of the state and mine owners, is rooted in a fundamental belief in equality before the law. The human rights of the bereaved Lily Mine families are no less important than those of the families for whom the South African government has spent hundreds of millions of rands to retrieve the remains of their loved ones who perished on foreign soil during the anti-apartheid struggle or the 14 South African soldiers recently killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Furthermore, the retrieval of the remains aligns with a deeply held African custom that demands the dignified return and burial of the deceased, ensuring that their families can find proper closure.

ActionSA affirms its commitment to standing by the Nkambule, Mnisi, and Nyirenda families to ensure they receive justice and closure.

Issued by ActionSA President Herman Mashaba