Human rights attorney, Richard Spoor, has welcomed an expected move by the Department of Water and Sanitation to open a criminal case against the Jagersfontein Diamond Mine for contravening the National Water Act.
Spoor is representing families affected by the Jagersfontein Mine disaster.
The case relates to the September 11 disaster, which saw the mine dam wall burst. Another dam wall burst two weeks later.
At least 160 houses were damaged after the town was flooded with sludge.
Spoor explains the charges due to be laid on Friday by the department: “There are two charges as far as we understand, both on the violation of the water use licence. The first is that the dam should have been closed in 2020 as it was the end of its designed life, and they didn’t do that. The second thing is there was a strict limitation on how much waste could be dumped on the dam. They added more than twice what they were allowed to do and there is no question that it contributed towards the failure of the dam. It is those two charges that form the heart of the state’s case against Jagersfontein. It is a good thing, and we hope that something will come out.”
Management ignored information on cracked wall
Mineworkers who worked the night shift ahead of the initial mine disaster claim they informed mine management of a crack in the mine dam wall.
Workers told National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) representatives that mine management had allegedly ignored the warnings.
The NUM’s national health and safety secretary, Masibulele Naki, said they also need answers from Department of Labour inspectors.
“They were supposed to take out the sand so that the dam itself becomes strong. Because you can’t close mud with sand. At a particular point even when it’s raining, these workers are telling us that the wall is coming down, they were always indicating such things. There are a lot of hazards and risks that were not taken care of by the mine bosses, what they care for is profit,” says Naki.
Management dismisses looming threat
Mine management of Jagersfontein Developments has since insisted that there was no indication of a looming threat.
The mine’s legal compliance officer, Marius de Villiers, said they complied with all safety measures.
“A new licence was issued and that licence was what we operated on up until now and we have complied with all those conditions, that’s why I am saying the last and I have said it previously as well, the last engineering report that was submitted by the mine was in June because we have to do that quarterly. We have complied with that,” added De Villiers.
In the report below, growing beliefs that the Jagersfontein disaster could have been avoided:
