Mining investment company Arqomanzi and its empowerment partner, Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation (SSC Group), have welcomed this week’s Constitutional Court judgment dismissing Vantage Goldfields’ leave to appeal a Supreme Court ruling.
The company said Tuesday’s ruling was a victory for the families of the three Lily Mine workers who remain buried in the mineshaft more than seven years since the mine collapsed on them in 2016.
The bodies of the three miners – Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi – are yet to be recovered.
This week, a Barberton Magistrate’s Court inquest into their deaths concluded that the mine owners, management and/or employers had failed to conduct a proper risk assessment on the crown pillar that collapsed, entombing a container with the three miners inside.
The inquest also declared that the three workers had died, and the matter will now be referred to the high court for review.
The findings will also be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider launching criminal proceedings.
An unidentified witness known as Mr X testified that organised zama-zamas in groups of 10 to 20 people each were operating at the mine at the time of the incident. He said these illegal miners tore and bore away at the crown pillar, ignoring its critical purpose in preventing roof collapses, because of its visible gold.
The inquest also revealed these heavily armed and sponsored zama-zamas were responsible for the collapse of the mine.
These zama-zamas are said to be organised and were working with gold buyers belonging to the Russian and Jewish mafia from Sandton.
The inquest further revealed that an attempted rescue of the bodies failed after it was delayed by the business rescue process and a series of court actions between the two bidders – Arqomanzi and Vantage Goldfields – has been tied up for years in court.
Last week, the Concourt dismissed an application by Vantage Goldfields appealing a Supreme Court of Appeal finding that supported Arqomanzi’s claim to be the largest creditor in Vantage.
Reacting to this finding, Arqomanzi CEO Neill Herrick said the judgment was long overdue as Vantage had failed to implement the judgment handed down in 2019.
“We have spent more than four years and a large amount of money successfully fighting for our rights and those of creditors and affected persons in the business rescue of the Barbrook and Lily mines. Creditors and affected persons will recall that the business rescue practitioners have committed on numerous occasions to implement the order of the acting judge as soon as the legal proceedings are final. The legal proceedings could have been avoided if Vantage had accepted the acting judge’s judgment in 2019,“ Herrick said.