TRAUMA AND DEPRESSION IN JAGERSFONTEIN
FREDDIE OLIFANT
The mine is now under the management of Ulanda, the wife of Johann Combrick. The same guy who brought nothing but sorrow and misery to the people of Jagersfontein. The people still feel that nothing has changed because he continues to rule from the grave.
Instead of coming clean and admitting to his man-made disaster, he decided to hand over the management of the mine to his wife. He made sure that he captured the municipality under his influence, to avoid possible prosecution and accountability. This is happening in the wake of people’s lives being destroyed.
People who lost their properties are still to be compensated by Johann and the mine, yet he’s in cahoots with the municipality and they assist him to run away with murder. Some of the structures are standing incomplete and the rain has damaged some of the half-completed houses. Our region is among the hottest in the country and that is one of the reasons why some of the building materials are damaged by the heat and rain.
Bilankulu is still playing the role of spin doctor for Johann and the mine, he’s made so many unfulfilled promises and people have lost confidence in him and his promises. His only role is to ensure that the government investigation never sees the light of day. The people’s rights to a safe and healthy environment are being violated daily by Johann and Bilankulu together with their cronies.
Another major challenge is the issue of sewer spillages around the community, our investigation as the monitoring team uncovered that the damage to the infrastructure resulted from mining. Water infrastructure and drainage systems have collapsed and no one is prepared to take the blame. The pipes that are supplying water to the people are now contaminated with acid from the mine.
As Johann continues to mine here without a valid license, the people have resolved to pursue the matter through the courts until someone hears them out. The mine continues to dump dirt into the open shaft without thinking about the underground water resources that our agriculture depends on.
