Jagersfontein Disaster: Court Hears Dam Was “Built to Fail” to Cut Costs

Jagersfontein Disaster: Court Hears Dam Was “Built to Fail” to Cut Costs

For the residents of Charlesville in the Free State, the memories of September 11, 2022, are not about a distant international tragedy, but a personal and devastating nightmare. It was the day a wall of sludge and water tore through their community, leaving death, injury, and unimaginable destruction in its wake. The source of the catastrophe was the collapse of the Jagersfontein mine tailings dam.

This week, as the first five accused employees of the engineering firm that built the dam stood briefly in the Jagersfontein Magistrate’s Court, a chilling claim emerged from a source close to the investigation. It wasn’t just an accident; the dam, they allege, was “built to fail.”

A Disaster Waiting to Happen

According to the source, the very foundation of the tragedy was laid a decade ago with a single, dangerous priority: cutting costs. The engineering firm tasked with constructing the dam allegedly “did the opposite of what should have been done.”

This points to catastrophic failures in the most basic principles of engineering. Questions of poor site selection, the use of substandard materials, and a blatant disregard for safety protocols are now at the heart of the case. The claim suggests the disaster wasn’t a matter of if, but when.

The Day the Wall Broke

The human cost of that day is etched into the community. The collapse killed three people, injured countless others, and wiped out homes and livelihoods. Livestock, a vital source of income for many, were drowned. The infrastructure of Charlesville was smashed under the weight of the mining waste, a toxic reminder of the industry that promised prosperity but delivered ruin.

For over a year, the survivors have waited for answers. They have waited for someone to be held accountable for the grief and the loss that swept through their township as forcefully as the sludge itself.

The Long Road to Justice

The court case is only just beginning. The postponement to October 22 for further investigation indicates the complexity of building a case that is now over a decade in the making. Prosecutors will need to forensically unpack decisions made years ago, piecing together a paper trail that leads to criminal liability.

The five individuals in the dock represent the first step in a long journey toward accountability. Their appearance signals that the justice system is aiming not just at faceless corporations, but at the people whose alleged decisions and actions had dire consequences.

The case against them will hinge on proving that the pursuit of profit knowingly trumped the duty of care owed to the community living in the dam’s shadow. For the people of Jagersfontein, this trial is about more than justice; it’s about ensuring that such a preventable disaster never happens again.

{Source: TheCitizen}

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