This comes after the slime dam belonging to diamond recovery company Jagersfontein Developments, breached on Sunday 11 September, damaging houses and vehicles in the Free State mining town. The incident saw the death of one person. Phoofolo says the community has actively been demanding development from the mine for years and also raised concerns over the danger of the mining activities. He laments that these concerns went unanswered for years. 

Phoofolo, who is also a nurse by profession, says no one came to their aid despite their repeated calls for assistance from the provincial and national governments' leadership. He says now that disaster has struck, these officials are taking part in grand photo opportunities, when what the community needed most were change and development.  

ALSO READ: FS municipality cuts water supply to Jagersfontein mine

On the back of the activists' sentiments, Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo on Tuesday 13 September 2022, said his department would be working with law enforcement agencies to prosecute management at Jagersfontein Developments. 

However, the mine has denied any wrongdoing to the media this week, only stating R20 million had been set aside to assist all who were displaced and lost other valuables in the incident. 

The mine and the community at loggerheads for years 

The OFM News team in 2018 reported that Kopanong Local Municipality cut off the water supply to Jagersfontein Developments in an effort to get the mine to come to the table regarding the community's plethora of concerns. 

ALSO READ: Jagersfontein mine and FS municipality at loggerheads

At the time, a letter addressed to then Mayor, Xolile Matwa, Municipal Manager, Martin Kubeka, and a group called the Jagersfontein Multi-Stakeholder Mining Forum (JMMF), by Mine Director Henk van Zuydam, revealed that pumps, piping, as well as electrical infrastructure belonging to the company “were destroyed, damaged and/or removed at the sewerage treatment plant” on land belonging to the municipality as well as on the privately owned Rietkuil farm, where the mine extracts water from a borehole. The community maintained at the time that the extraction was illegal. 

Concerns around the Itumeleng Community Trust

Jagersontein Developments in 2011 established the Itumeleng Community Trust (ICT) which was meant to "function as a vehicle for corporate social responsibility programmes, initiatives and interventions for the communities of Jagersfontein, Itumeleng, Charlesville, and surrounding farming areas" reads the ICT website. However the community has repeatedly questioned who the leadership of the ICT was and what programmes had been initiated under them. 

ALSO READ: Questions on Jagersfontein community development trust

OFM News