- Lesotho's Consul General Selimo Thabane says there are "many issues at play" regarding the Orkney tragedy.
- North West Premier Job Mokgoro and Thabane addressed the media before proceeding to assist the families of the dead miners.
- Twenty bodies were found near a disused mine shaft last week.
Lesotho's Consul General Selimo Thabane on Monday said there were many issues at play with regard to the Orkney tragedy, which resulted in the bodies of 20 miners discovered near a disused mine shaft last week.
The issues he referred to included unemployment and socio-economic factors.
Thabane and North West Premier Job Mokgoro addressed the media before proceeding to assist the families of the dead miners.
"In today's world, together with its complexities and challenges, as responsible leaders, we should not be too quick to blame. We should rather intensify our efforts to understand the issue at hand," Mokgoro said.
News24 previously reported that Mokgoro and Thabane intended to help the families with the identification process, after establishing that most of the deceased were from Lesotho.
Thabane and Mokgoro were asked who was to blame for the tragedy: the miners, who were allegedly mining illegally, the mining companies, or law enforcement?
Thabane said:
Mokgoro echoed similar sentiments and agreed with the analogy of "peeling the onion".
"I would also align ourselves with peeling the onion. We will never be able to break its back if we do not understand the layers of this onion and where we should really invest heavily - and [make a] serious effort at understanding the onion," Mokgoro said.