Tladi Moloi
It has been a month since the dam wall of the Jagersfontein diamond mine collapsed, killing two people and leaving hundreds homeless
Yet since that tragedy, nothing has been done.
On Wednesday, the angry community took their frustration to the street, marching to the mine to hand over a memorandum of demands. The community members said they felt disrespected by the management who have still not addressed them since the incident.
They are demanding that the mine take full responsibility for the deaths and destruction that resulted from the disaster.
Patric Lekgetla, the convener of the march, said the mine should compensate those affected by the incident.
“The compliance officer should be dismissed with immediate effect because the tailing did not comply with the law. The remains of the tailing dam looms large over Itumeleng and continues to pose danger to the community. With the heavy rains that could also come down,” he said.
Lekgetla said they are still waiting to hear a word from the mine.
“We have heard that they donated R20 million but we don’t know what it was for. We only read about it in newspapers. We are tired of people who will come, destroy our people and keep quiet like nothing happened – hence we gave them a memorandum.
“We have listed all our demands on the memorandum and surely we shall take them head-on should they fail us,” he said.
He said among the demands listed were that the mine management should urgently meet with leaders of the Jagersfontein Multi-Stakeholders Mining Forum to discuss a way forward.
“We want them to provide a copy of its disaster management plan and provide a copy of the environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan,” he said.
Johan Combrink, the operations manager at the diamond mine, accepted the memorandum and promised the community members that they will receive their response within a week.
“I will give the memorandum to the management and surely they will give responses after seven days,” he said.
Pictured above: Jagersfontein residents hand over memorandum
Image source: Tladi Moloi
