It is payback time for Aurora victims

Springs resident Gerty Prinsloo (63) has mixed emotions about the recent Pretoria High Court ruling on the Aurora saga.

She is happy that the workers will get some money back, but sad because her husband Robert Pretorius, who died in 2013, cannot share the occasion with her.

“Robert was a dedicated and hard-working man who gave his best while working at the mine as a shaft operator,” she says.

The whole ordeal leaves a bitter taste in her mouth and she is sure she is not the only one who feels this way.

Gerty claims their whole life was turned upside down when Aurora was liquidated in 2011 and left thousands of people without jobs.

According to Gerty it was a huge financial setback for them.

“We lost almost everything and had to exchange a four-bedroom house for a one-bedroom house.

“Robert felt he couldn’t provide for me anymore and started doing odd jobs for an income,” she says.

But the Aurora liquidation was taking its toll, not only emotionally, but physically, and Robert died after he had a heart attack just two years later.

His death left her devastated and lonely.

However, Gerty is happy that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“The good news is long overdue and although we won’t get back what they really owe us, I am happy that we are least getting something back,” she says.

Theuns Putter (58), who worked on the mine for 33 years, says he had his retirement plans in order, which fell through due to the liquidation in May 2011.

“The fact that we might get R28 000 back is only a drop in the ocean,” he says.

He feels he could have invested the money and at least lived a decent life, but now he has to rely on odd jobs to survive.

“The owners of the mine did not treat us fairly and the money we are getting back will not make up for the financial losses we all suffered,” he says.

Read:

• Full judgement on Aurora
• Hawks investigating Aurora bosses
• Aurora directors hear their fate in high court
• Aurora damaged many lives