It's been seven years since a container at Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga collapsed and got trapped underground with three employees inside. The bodies of the three employees who were inside the container were never recovered. Their families are still pleading with the government to retrieve their remains.  

LILY MINE TRAGEDY  

The families of Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyirenda say on this Workers' Day, they have nothing to celebrate as their loved ones' remains have been underground since the tragedy in February 2016. They say all they need now is to get a chance to give them dignified funerals. Yesterday marked four years since the families of the three, set up a campsite outside the mine. Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) members demonstrated outside the mine today to mark  Workers' Day. 

FAMILIES NEED CLOSURE

Spokesperson for the families, Harry Mazibuko, says they want the container retrieved and the mine reopened. Mazibuko said, "The march by Cosatu is questionable to us as the families because there's no one representative that came forth to the families, they cannot say they are representing the rights of Yvonne, Pretty and Solomon yet there's no contact. We are looking for closure, we are looking for solutions to find them to clock out because they clocked in on the 5th of February 2016." 

BUILDING UNITY 

During his address at the Workers' Day event in Bethlehem in the Free State, President Cyril Ramaphosa said May Day compels everyone to reflect and take stock of the plight of the working class. "It reminds us of the journey we have travelled together over many decades in building working class unity, fighting for workplace democracy, and in consolidating the rights of millions of South Africa's workers," said President Ramaphosa. He added that, "As much as Workers' Day is taking place today during a very difficult time for our country, we want to say that, yes, issues such as poverty, unemployment, inequality are challenges that can only be effectively addressed if we, as the alliance, continue working together, if we as the alliance continue holding hands to ensure that the ideals set out in the national democratic revolution are indeed achieved." Last year, Ramaphosa was forced to abandon the national Workers' Day rally, organised by Cosatu in Rustenburg, after angry Sibanye-Stillwater workers disrupted the proceedings and refused to allow him to speak. The miners were at the time on strike demanding an increase of R1000 a month for the next three years.