Families of Lily Mine 3 expected to lead 10-year memorial event

The families of Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi are expected to lead the 10-year memorial event of the trio that was buried alive at Lily Mine in Barberton.

The three young miners were trapped underground after the lamp room they were working from caved into old underground mine workings at Lily Mine in 2016.

Their remains were never recovered.

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A few minutes after 8am on 5 February 2016, a portion of the crown pillar on level 4 of the main mine failed, collapsing at the upper western portion adjacent to the mine entrance.

Some of the surface infrastructure was dragged underground, including the lamp room where the Lily Mine three – as they’re known – were working.

The container was buried under rubble and never retrieved.

Ten years on, the families of Nkambule, Nyirenda and Mnisi still hope for justice.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba, who has over the years led calls for accountability, will again join the families for 2026’s commemoration.

“Three black people just vanished and if we think it only happened to those families, it will happen to your family tomorrow. Our approach is that Lily Mine must remain top of mind.”

An inquest into the tragedy found that the mine owners and management failed to do a proper risk assessment on the crown pillar that collapsed.

The inquest also pointed at police and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources for their failure to curb illegal mining, which contributed to the crown pillar collapse.