Lily Mine inquest into tragedy continues
The inquest* into the deaths of three workers at Lily Mine in 2016 currently being heard at the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court, heard that some of the mine's security was allegedly involved in aiding illegal mining.
The tragedy occurred on February 5, 2016. The bodies of Yvonne Mnisi, Solomon Nyirendaw and Pretty Nkambule have not yet been recovered following the collapse. It is presumed they are deceased.
The inquest started on Tuesday November 1. Various parties have been called to give testimony at the inquest from the family members of the three workers.
Elmon Mnisi, the father of Yvonne, was the first to testify. Other parties such as a former junior blaster for the mine, Dean Ackerman, a former mine employee, Barend Johannes Koorzen, and former Lily Mine shift boss Jacobus Potas also testified.
On Monday November 8, Potas testified followed by former Hi-Tech owner Johnny Kerswill and then a former illegal miner known only as Mr X.
Mr X’s testimony continued on November 9, followed by security expert and the mine’s former security contractor Dirk van den Berg. The mine’s former chief of health and safety, Sanet Jonker, also testified on November 9.
The court heard Van den Berg had started specialising in security services in the mining industry in 2008. He was the commander of specialised services for Fidelity Group at Lily Mine from 2009 to 2012. He left Fidelity in 2012 and started his own company with his own employees continuing to investigate illegal mining activities in the Barberton area.
“Illegal mining is very complex, especially in the Barberton area. There are numerous organisations that are involved that are funded by various syndicates from the Johannesburg area and Mozambique,” testified Van Den Berg.
“Mining underground was intensive and illegal miners are very well armed and structured.”
He said illegal mining continued at Lily Mine after the tragedy and that he and and his employees are “constantly in combat with them trying to clear the mines”.
He said any intelligence he gathered between 2012 and 2014 was given to the intelligence unit of the SAPS, but that it was not known if the intelligence made it to mine management.
He alleged that if he had reported the intelligence directly to mine management, it would have been seen as an interference as Fidelity was the contracted security company to Lily Mine and he was not.
He said after the 2016 tragedy, Lily Mine management contacted him to investigate the disappearance of an eight-kilogram gold bar from a smelting house that occurred at the end of 2015. Van den Berg alleged that his investigation found that there was an integrated system running to the benefit of illegal mining being controlled by some of the senior personnel. The late former Lily Mine security manager, Tjaart van Straaten, and some people closely connected to him were allegedly involved with aiding illegal mining operations.
“We identified that the Russians were buying gold in this area and reworking it as well as the Jewish mafia from Sandton specifically,” alleged Van den Berg.
He also alleged there were groups in Mozambique as well.
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Van den Berg said illegal mining “is like a cancer. Once you have taken it out you have to keep on giving medicine to ensure it doesn’t come back”.
Mr X
Mr X testified that security guards at the mine allegedly helped illegal miners enter and exit the mine for a price of between R1 000 and R15 000 per head.
He alleged that illegal miners had blasted the crown pillar with large amounts of explosives on February 4, 2016, the night before the tragedy, also alleging that illegal miners had been blasting it since December 2013.
Mr X alleged they would access the mine by bribing security guards and that illegal miners only worked at night as there were fewer legal miners on the night shift.
He alleged that one of the presumed dead miners, Nyerende, had knowingly signed off the lamps to illegal miners by using the lamps of legal workers who were on leave at the time.
Mr X also alleged they sometimes wore the uniforms of legal miners to enter mines and that they would sometimes get these uniforms from a shop in Barberton that sold PPE.
He said the preferred levels to illegally mine were three, eight and 10 and that the mine would not notice them blasting as they coincided doing so when the mine set off their own explosives.
Mr X said the illegal miners worked the crown pillar as there was a lot of visible gold to extract. He alleged they had created a tunnel into the crown pillar as well as holes for illegal miners to take shelter in while they were blasting illegally.
He said up to eight men could fit inside these holes.
He alleged that illegal mining was prevalent in the country and many people’s livelihoods depend on it.
He alleged that he would report illegal mining activities to his commander at the mine regularly, but could not say whether the reports ever made it to mine management.
Johnny Kerswill
Kerswill testified that he had met with Lily Mine management on January 28, 2016 to give intelligence that explosives were being used by illegal miners inside the mine.
He said while he was not tasked by Lily Mine to gather intelligence regarding illegal mining activity, he made sure to pass the intelligence on to the management due to the seriousness of the situation.
Kerswill said he had received intelligence from a reporter regarding explosives being used by illegal miners.
He said information was then verified and confirmed and he then reported the intelligence to Lily Mine. He said he was “so shocked” when he learned of the mine’s collapse.
Jacobus Potas
Potas also testified on Monday. He alleged the crown pillar could be reached by illegal miners using ratholes and rope ladders.
Potas said he had been part of operations that had found their illegal equipment. He alleged seeing three illegal miners running away on the surface of the mine during a raid a few years before the collapse.
Lowvelder was unable to sit through Jonker’s testimony due to time constraints. The inquest continued on Wednesday and is expected to continue today (November 11).
*According to the Inquests Act 58 of 1959, an inquest is held in the case of a death or alleged death apparently occurring from other than natural causes and for matters incidental thereto. It is not a trial – there are no accused parties. The procedure seeks to determine the circumstances within which the Lily Mine tragedy had occurred.
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Lowvelder will attend the Lily Mine inquest proceedings throughout and report the versions of all parties called to testify.
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