There is no clear plan from the government to take care of, or compensate, the scores of people left homeless or injured in the flood of mud caused by the collapse of the Jagersfontein Developments tailings dam in September last year.
That’s the assessment of a Kopanong local municipality official from Jagersfontein with intimate information regarding the disaster, but who is not authorised to speak to the media.
The source, who also did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, says there is no clear plan, in black and white, to fix the damage caused by the mine.
No plans
“We asked about the disaster management plan, we asked about environmental impact plans but the only reports we got was from the National Home Builders Registration Council, as well as the mine, which speaks of the assessments of houses.
“There are no specifications in terms of construction of houses, terms of reference, time frames… we do not have anything.
There’s no clear plan from the provincial government and the mine itself.” He says there was land that was earmarked for the rebuilding of the houses. However, neither the mine, nor the government, has said anything about the land. “We identified three areas.
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‘Processes’
We liaised with the department of human settlements about the land we found and they told us about processes. They should have, by now, brought surveyors or expects in to determine if it is conducive for people to live there. But we are still waiting for them.”
The insider says he does not believe those who lost their livelihoods would ever be compensated, nor would the local farmers be whose land was effectively poisoned by the toxic spill.
“We are also dealing with private capital here and, in most cases, they do not negotiate in good faith. In November, they made a commitment they would be dealing with the building of houses, loss of furniture and loss of income – but up to now only three houses were erected and they have not been finished yet.
“Blame is being shifted either from the mine or individuals. I can assure you that after three months if you visit here, you’ll find matters as they are now – unless this matter goes to court.”
Responsibility
Billy Bilankulu, director of stakeholder relations of the mine, says the mine will take responsibility for all the damage caused by the mine dam.
“There were a lot of directives given [by the government] the mine needed to abide by. The government gave us a directive that we should not work in areas that were affected.
We and the government did not realise red tape would delay the process.” He says that, as one of the shareholders, he took the responsibility to establish an office so that anyone with a claim could engage with them so they could start with the compensation.
Bilankulu says in one of the committee meetings, the government said there should not be any compensation for anything before houses were built for those who lost houses.
“We can’t settle someone who lost a goat before settling someone who doesn’t have a place to stay. Priority will be given to those who lost shelter.”– [email protected]
READ MORE: SAHRC to probe Jagersfontein mine dam tragedy – ActionSA
