Finally, the truth behind the mudslide disaster that claimed two lives, left 40 people injured and displaced dozens of homeowners in Jagersfontein in the southern Free State is made public.
An independent investigation report into the collapse of the mine tailings dam in 2022, which was kept under wraps for more than 12 months, is now released. Its findings are hardly surprising and they confirm what we said in this editorial space then: that the tragedy was preventable.
The report by the universities of Pretoria and Witwatersrand, released publicly for the first time last week, found the collapse was the result of long-term engineering failures, ignored warning signs and crucial lapses in regulatory oversight.
While the state wants us to believe that the decision to delay the public release of the report was based on the advice of prosecutors, this is not backed by evidence. To date, we have heard of five individuals, including engineers, a compliance officer and an operations manager, who will face trial in court next year for what happened in Jagersfontein. They face charges of murder, malicious damage to property and contravention of the Health and Safety Act.
Granted, these would have been responsible for the day-to-day compliance and safety at the mine, but they were not decision-makers, who ignored the repeated warnings. Their mine bosses, who prioritised profit at the expense of the lives of poor people, continue to live with impunity.
The senior government officials from the Free State department of water and sanitation who enabled the deaths of the people by failing to perform their duty of oversight also remain unscathed.
We previously reported that a letter from the provincial government to the management company – Jaggersfontein Development – warning of the potential risks two years before the tragedy was ignored.
The universities’ report has further confirmed this but falls short of stating who at the high level of government ought to be held responsible for such a foreseeable disaster.
That a panel of experts undertook dam-breach analysis at the Jagersfontein mine in 2020 and found the tailings dam had exceeded required levels in the licence conditions by almost double should be reason enough to press charges against directors and senior government officials.
Allowing those who were in charge when this tragedy happened to escape with impunity for their failings only serves to encourage lawlessness without consequences. The mining company’s directors who benefitted from its disastrous operations and high-level government officials remain faceless and not held to account to this day.
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