People of Jagersfontein still waiting for justice, say civil society groups, trade unions

Their call comes nearly two years after the disaster when the Free State tailings dam collapsed

The government has been urged to ensure that there is justice for the people of Jagersfontein, nearly two years after the deadly mine tailings dam failure in the Free State.

The call was made this week by the Bench Marks Foundation, Earthworks, Federation for a Sustainable Environment, groundWork as well as the National Union of Mineworkers and the various participants of the South African Tailings Civil Society Working Group.

The mining waste disaster unfolded in the early hours of 11 September 2022 when the tailings dam at the Jagersfontein diamond mine collapsed, releasing a torrent of thick grey sludge into the neighbouring areas of Charlesville and Itumeleng, killing several people, leaving two missing, injuring dozens and inundating rivers and grazing land. 

The “untold damage” to animal life and to the wider ecosystem is not often spoken of but must also be factored in with the damage to close to 164 houses, the civil society and trade union groups said this week.

They said they were appalled during a recent two-day consultative workshop on tailings, convened by Earthworks and the Bench Marks Foundation, by the lack of transparency and accountability from authorities.

“It is scandalous that, when close to two years have passed, the authorities have failed to publish the forensic report on the Jagersfontein disaster and all the recommendations [to avoid such disasters] have not been made public,” said Hassen Lorgat, convenor of the Civil Society Tailings Working Group. 

He noted how, at the time of the disaster, “everyone and their dog was saying what they were going to do [but] no one even bothers what happens two years later; that’s the sad indictment”.

Lorgat recalled that in 2019, near Brumadinho in Brazil, a tailings dam collapse from the Vale iron ore mine killed 272 people, destroying houses and buildings for kilometres before flowing into the Paraopeba River. Authorities there took six months to complete the forensic report into the disaster.

“The rule of thumb is investigation and what are the lessons learned. This is all that I’m asking for. Nothing progressive; just standard bureaucratic good work,” he said. “You can’t go for two years [after Jagersfontein] like that.”

Global NGOs Earthworks, Mining Watch Canada and London Mining Network, as well as the international union group IndustriAll Global Union, have backed the call for the full forensic report to be released “to serve the public interest”.

The workshop’s participants also demanded that the National Prosecuting Authority act with “increased vigour and commitment to public service” to prosecute the owners of the mine. “We are aware that some government departments have supported this call, including the department of water and sanitation.”

Jagersfontein is home to the oldest and largest diamond mine hole in the world, and remained in service until the early 1970s when the owner, De Beers, shut it down. 

It retained the prospecting rights on the property until 2002. “It is believed that limited reprocessing operations at the mine were eventually started in September 2010 by a company named Son Op, later known as Jagersfontein Developments,” the groups said.

“Reinet Investments of Luxembourg became involved around 2011, but eventually sold out to Stargems Group around early 2022 who now own and are mining the tailings dump. Stargems acquired the shareholding of the tailing dump from billionaire Johann Rupert’s Reinet Investments.” 

While Jagersfontein Developments had offered R20 million to assist the residents, “how far this has gone has not been confirmed”, they said.

The civil society groups and trade unions said the principal regulatory departments — the department of water and sanitation, the department of mineral resources and the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment — must report about how they will address the policy gaps in relation to tailings facilities and risk management.

Priorities that came out of the workshop is a need for literacy about tailings and mine waste and its wider effects on society, particularly workers and people living adjacent to mining. “This appeal must be to the whole society because when a dam bursts, its impacts will be indiscriminate and widespread.”

The effects of unpredictable weather patterns caused by the climate crisis, such as extreme levels of heat and flooding, inevitably put pressure on structures and systems designed to manage tailings, the organisations said.

South Africa experiences extended periods of droughts and heavy rainfalls in some of its provinces and in neighbouring countries. 

“These higher levels of intense rainfalls that have occurred like the tropical cyclones in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and neighbouring Mozambique invariably will lead to more erosion and flooding of these tailings dams. Engineers and society at large must seek to find solutions for them.”

The solutions are not only about where and how this should be built but must involve consent of people who may suffer most harm, the workshop’s participants noted. 

“How climate change impacts on how these facilities are designed, built and managed, suggests that this is a more urgent necessity for the government and the corporations to listen to the voices of citizens.”

Given the vagaries of climate change, the key to the safety of South Africa’s tailings dams. “is mapping where these things are so we can be more safe”, Lorgat added.

The organisations also want all waste facilities to be mapped and be publicly available. “This mapping exercise will spell out which mines are active tailings and old tailings, dumps and dust, pits and water waste.”

The National Prosecuting Authority had not responded by the time of publication.