Workers failed to ring emergency alarm when Lucky Sifundza disappeared

SITEKI – The investigation into the death of RSSC worker Lucky Sifundza on May 23 at the Mhlume mill has uncovered that, upon noticing that he was missing, some workers failed to ring the emergency alarm.

This is contained in the internal investigation report which was concluded last week and handed over to Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) Managing Director Nick Jackson on Friday.

It is stated in the Mhlume Sugar Mill’s safety precautions that the emergency alarm should be rung should any suspicious incident which might be hazardous occur.

"The report has uncovered that the suspended workers failed to ring the emergency alarm upon noticing that Sifundza was missing. This could have helped the situation because the machine could have been stopped and an immediate search operation could have been instituted," said a well placed source, who wished to remain anonymous.

He further revealed that the report concludes that the suspended employees have a case to answer because they were on the same shift as Sifundza and, therefore, were in the vicinity of his workstation.

"While the internal investigators were interrogating the suspended workers, they all distanced themselves from the accident, saying they did not see anything.

This is, however, surprising because most of them were working not far from Sifundza’s workstation," added the source. This report, which has been kept secret by the investigators, has already been handed over to the Managing Director who is expected to go through it with management today before forwarding it to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. During an interview on Thursday, Jackson said the report will not be made public, adding that the company will update the public on the latest developments through press statements.

Meanwhile, Corporate Affairs Manager at RSSC Twini Nxumalo confirmed that the report had been finalised and handed over to management.

Nxumalo added that she cannot be sure when it will be forwarded to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

"I cannot be precise on when the report will be sent to the Department of Labour but probably sooner rather than later," she said in a brief interview.

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