Matshidiso Selebeleng
About ten people are facing charges of murder, malicious property damage, and contravention of the Health and Safety Act in relation to the September 22 Jagersfontein disaster that tragically killed three people and left hundreds destitute.
The Department of Water and Sanitation and Kopanong Local Municipality have opened a case with the South African Police Services against Jagersfontein Development (Pty) LTD
This follows an explosive report investigated by the Universities of Pretoria and Witwatersrand which reveals that the diamond mine collapse could have been prevented.
Issued to the small Free State mining town community by the Deputy Ministers of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo and Sello Seitlholo on Friday, the findings of the report reveal that long-term engineering failures were ignored and that signs of a looming mine collapse were visible.
The report also states that the mine's owner may have been aware of the impending disaster.
According to the report, the visible signs include, the instability of the southern wall of the dam, construction of the tailings was based on a conceptual design, and no detailed designs were done.
It also states that there was no construction supervision by a registered engineering professional and the Southern wall was constructed on a weak foundation which drastically contributed to the collapse.
“The technical investigation by the two universities found that among others, the owner of the tailings dam, Jagersfontein Development (Pty) Ltd, may have been aware of the instability of the storage facility along the southern wall of the dam tailings from as far back as 2019, and at the time added large volumes of material to stabilise the slope, which was not effective, but continued to raise the dam wall and deposit more tailings into the dam.
“The construction and raising of the tailings storage facility was based on conceptual designs and no detailed designs were done to enable the safe construction of the facility, there was no construction supervision by a registered engineering professional, and that part of the southern wall of the compartment was constructed over a pre-existing tailings dump of low strength. Which is what largely resulted in the failure of the TSF where the breach occurred,” the report states.
In addition, the report finding shows that in March 2022, a small crest failure was observed and reported as an early sign of the collapse which happened six months later.
While addressing the community, Mahlobo said he was confident that the court judgment would be in favor of the residents and against the mine company.
“We obviously cannot get into the merits of the case because it is in court, safe to say that we have strong evidence and it is a winnable case,” he said.
The delegation also included Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae and the Mayor of Kopanong Local Municipality Xolani Tseletsele.
Letsoha-Mathae expressed her satisfaction with the report
“We promised the people of Jagersfontein that we would pursue this matter and we are.
“This government, has witnessed the devastation of the disaster caused by the collapse of the mine dam, we laid a case with the police, and we are happy that the matter is currently in court.
“The investigation that led to the report was not done by the government, but by institutions of higher learning, and it was a transparent investigation,” she said.
