Central SA
Residents continue to search for last missing woman in Jagersfontein─── LUCKY NKUYANE 12:57 Sun, 04 Dec 2022
Residents of Jagersfontein in the Free State, which suffered serious infrastructure damage on 11 September when a local mine dam wall collapsed, are continuing their efforts to find the last missing elderly woman.
It has been more than 180 days since Mantele Mokhali went missing following the disaster which left two people dead, scores injured, over 200 displaced and 100 houses destroyed.
ALSO READ: Houses, cars swept away by strong stream of water in Free State town | WATCH
In November, the provincial spokesperson of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Sipho Towa, told OFM News that search operations for the missing victim were stopped due to heavy mud posing a high risk for rescuers, with the possibility of getting trapped or cut.
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Towa said it also became difficult to search within the river due to mud at the bottom of the river and poor visibility.
ALSO READ: Search for missing Jagersfontein disaster victim called off
OFM News previously had a conversation with the 54-year-old government disability grant recipient, Paseka Mokhali, who said news of the search for his wife being called off, caught him off guard.
He said he is deeply pained since his wife went missing. Mokhali added that what pained him more, is the fact that no government or mine official ever bothered to inform him about the search being called off.
ALSO READ: Husband of missing Jagersfontein woman speaks out
Following this tragic disaster, Premier Sisi Ntombela assembled officials from the EMS College to assist with the rescue mission and search.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, accompanied by Mayor Xolani Tseletsele and others, opened a criminal case regarding water pollution against the local mine in November.
"We have the responsibility as a government to act when an owner of a facility like this failed to take certain actions. Today, on the basis of that, we have completed our own assessment. We're now opening a case on the basis of the National Water Act," Mahlobo said.
Earlier, the Free State Office of Water and Sanitation's spokesperson, Larry Crisp, said a forensic report is being done to determine the extent of the pollution.
