Zwane said a contact with the rock ignited a spark, and in a split second a blast, accompanied by flames.
There was a wheelbarrow containing more explosives behind Mbhekeni. As he tried to flee, he tripped over it and fell.
“When they took us to a lorry so we could be rushed to hospital, we noticed that Mbhekeni’s clothes had burned into his skin,” said Zwane.
They were initially taken to the government hospital in Piggs Peak, northwestern Eswatini.
“When I visited him in hospital, he was completely covered in bandages. Only his nose was exposed; and was itself burned,” said Mbhekeni’s father.
Mbhekeni lived for 14 days in what his father says was excruciating pain. He died on Thursday, December 14 2023.
None of the workers GroundUp spoke to had received any training to do the jobs they were doing.
Nkondlo Douglas Masango says he was the official blaster at the mine until he was fired in April. He said on the day of the explosion he was sick and had been taken to the clinic in Nkhaba. Before he left, he was asked to blast because they were in haste to get a specific quantity of stone.
“But I turned them down. First, because as a rule I did not blast after 4pm; and, also, because I was sick,” said Masango.
“I later learned that the Chinese workers had ordered Mncina’s boy [Mbhekeni] and the others to load explosives into holes. This is troubling because these Chinese guys do not have the licence for blasting. It should never have been done in my absence,” said Masango.
Police officers from Piggs Peak visited Masango after the incident. “I told them everything and they took a statement,” he said.
We are not human beings to them
A worker who wanted to remain anonymous for his safety said there are about 55 Eswatini workers at the site. .
He said nothing has changed since the November blast. He claims the vehicle that transports them on the steep mountain to the mining site is unroadworthy. No vehicle stays on site in case of an accident. He alleged there have been incidents of physical abuse of workers.
“We are not human beings to them,” he said. “Everyone can see that something is seriously wrong here. But we do not say anything even though we are suffering because we need the job to survive.”
Some workers have resigned. Tefana Siwela left after payday in October, a month before the fatal blast.
Siwela said they would sometimes be ordered to mix chemicals in a bucket using wooden sticks and without masks. “The Chinese guys would only watch and give orders from a safe distance,” he said.
He said there were days he would feel extremely weak and would not know what was the matter with him.
“I had inhaled a lot of chemicals and something was wrong with me,” Siwela said.
“We [Siwela and other workers] went to the government hospital in Piggs Peak for some tests. There the doctor said he would not decide for us as we are old, but if he were in our position, he would resign. He asked if we did not have livelihoods before the mine came, if we could not hustle like before.”
“To live, I had to quit,” said Siwela.
Mine director Michael Lee was earlier this year available to the media after his company was granted a mining licence by the government in February. He is no longer responding to calls or emails now.
Inspections
GroundUp previously reported how the mine has been exporting chert although it only has a prospecting licence, and it has no environmental authorisation for either activity.
In May and June, the Eswatini Environmental Authority made several unannounced visits.
The company appears to have now stopped ferrying stone from its Nkomazi sorting site to Maputo harbour. But workers are still expected to come to work daily.
“Now that we are not loading the stone into shipping containers, there is not much work for us. But they find tasks for us to do anyway. We were cutting grass today,” a worker told GroundUp.
The publication spoke to four workers, all of whom were in tattered overalls and torn safety boots given to them a year ago when they were hired.
“But when the king came to visit the mine on 22 February, we were given new orange uniforms. They took them as soon as the king left,” said a worker.
The workers are on three-month renewable contracts and take home the equivalent of between R2,400 and R2,800 a month.
Their contracts will expire at the end of the month. The workers do not know if their contracts will be renewed.
The principal secretary in the ministry of labour and social security Makhosini Mndawe, through communications officer Nompilo Mncina, told GroundUp he cannot comment on the labour issues at the mine “as the matter is still being probed and investigated”.
Phindile Vilakati, Royal Eswatini Police spokesperson, said they do not give comments to media houses not known to them. To get comment, GroundUp would have to be accredited through the ministry of information and communications technology and have to be vetted.
Neither the mine’s human resources manager nor the safety officer replied to questions sent to them.
Mine operations manager Mfanufikile Mashinini took nine days before promising to respond to this story in a few days' time. He did not respond. – GroundUp
To live, I had to quit – mineworker
Survivors tell how mine blast changed their lives forever
Image: Anthony Borrel
Just before 5pm on November 30 last year, a blast at a green chert mine inside the ecologically sensitive Malolotja Nature Reserve in Eswatini killed one worker and left five with serious burns.
Mbhekeni Mncina was 24 years old when he died.
His father, Jabulani Mncina, says he still has not received an official report about the circumstances leading to his son’s death from Michael Lee Enterprises, despite being promised one by the mine’s communications manager Makhosonkhe Dlamini.
GroundUp also asked several people in top management for the report.
Thembinkosi Zwane, 26, who was injured in the blast and spent four months recuperating and is still receiving treatment for his wounds at the Mbabane Clinic, told GroundUp what he remembers.
He said that afternoon, even though their knock-off time was approaching, they were ordered to pack explosives into holes drilled into the rock face. They would normally load several plastic-encased packages of explosive and push it down the hole with a plastic pipe or a wooden pole. That afternoon, neither the pole nor the pipe were working correctly. He said their supervisor ordered them to use a metal bar, usually used for digging.
Image: GROUNDUP
Image: Cebelihle Mbuyisa
Zwane said a contact with the rock ignited a spark, and in a split second a blast, accompanied by flames.
There was a wheelbarrow containing more explosives behind Mbhekeni. As he tried to flee, he tripped over it and fell.
“When they took us to a lorry so we could be rushed to hospital, we noticed that Mbhekeni’s clothes had burned into his skin,” said Zwane.
They were initially taken to the government hospital in Piggs Peak, northwestern Eswatini.
“When I visited him in hospital, he was completely covered in bandages. Only his nose was exposed; and was itself burned,” said Mbhekeni’s father.
Mbhekeni lived for 14 days in what his father says was excruciating pain. He died on Thursday, December 14 2023.
None of the workers GroundUp spoke to had received any training to do the jobs they were doing.
Nkondlo Douglas Masango says he was the official blaster at the mine until he was fired in April. He said on the day of the explosion he was sick and had been taken to the clinic in Nkhaba. Before he left, he was asked to blast because they were in haste to get a specific quantity of stone.
“But I turned them down. First, because as a rule I did not blast after 4pm; and, also, because I was sick,” said Masango.
“I later learned that the Chinese workers had ordered Mncina’s boy [Mbhekeni] and the others to load explosives into holes. This is troubling because these Chinese guys do not have the licence for blasting. It should never have been done in my absence,” said Masango.
Police officers from Piggs Peak visited Masango after the incident. “I told them everything and they took a statement,” he said.
We are not human beings to them
A worker who wanted to remain anonymous for his safety said there are about 55 Eswatini workers at the site. .
He said nothing has changed since the November blast. He claims the vehicle that transports them on the steep mountain to the mining site is unroadworthy. No vehicle stays on site in case of an accident. He alleged there have been incidents of physical abuse of workers.
“We are not human beings to them,” he said. “Everyone can see that something is seriously wrong here. But we do not say anything even though we are suffering because we need the job to survive.”
Some workers have resigned. Tefana Siwela left after payday in October, a month before the fatal blast.
Siwela said they would sometimes be ordered to mix chemicals in a bucket using wooden sticks and without masks. “The Chinese guys would only watch and give orders from a safe distance,” he said.
He said there were days he would feel extremely weak and would not know what was the matter with him.
“I had inhaled a lot of chemicals and something was wrong with me,” Siwela said.
“We [Siwela and other workers] went to the government hospital in Piggs Peak for some tests. There the doctor said he would not decide for us as we are old, but if he were in our position, he would resign. He asked if we did not have livelihoods before the mine came, if we could not hustle like before.”
“To live, I had to quit,” said Siwela.
Mine director Michael Lee was earlier this year available to the media after his company was granted a mining licence by the government in February. He is no longer responding to calls or emails now.
Inspections
GroundUp previously reported how the mine has been exporting chert although it only has a prospecting licence, and it has no environmental authorisation for either activity.
In May and June, the Eswatini Environmental Authority made several unannounced visits.
The company appears to have now stopped ferrying stone from its Nkomazi sorting site to Maputo harbour. But workers are still expected to come to work daily.
“Now that we are not loading the stone into shipping containers, there is not much work for us. But they find tasks for us to do anyway. We were cutting grass today,” a worker told GroundUp.
The publication spoke to four workers, all of whom were in tattered overalls and torn safety boots given to them a year ago when they were hired.
“But when the king came to visit the mine on 22 February, we were given new orange uniforms. They took them as soon as the king left,” said a worker.
The workers are on three-month renewable contracts and take home the equivalent of between R2,400 and R2,800 a month.
Their contracts will expire at the end of the month. The workers do not know if their contracts will be renewed.
The principal secretary in the ministry of labour and social security Makhosini Mndawe, through communications officer Nompilo Mncina, told GroundUp he cannot comment on the labour issues at the mine “as the matter is still being probed and investigated”.
Phindile Vilakati, Royal Eswatini Police spokesperson, said they do not give comments to media houses not known to them. To get comment, GroundUp would have to be accredited through the ministry of information and communications technology and have to be vetted.
Neither the mine’s human resources manager nor the safety officer replied to questions sent to them.
Mine operations manager Mfanufikile Mashinini took nine days before promising to respond to this story in a few days' time. He did not respond. – GroundUp
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