The visit of the Free State premier to the victims of the Jagersfontein Tailings disaster 11\9\22
Thabo Ishmael Choledi
As a community, we are very concerned to see how the government officials are handling our matter. To this day there are no reports being published from the mine and government agencies.
On the 14 August 2024, the Premier of Free State province was in Jagersfontein but nothing was fruitful for us as a community, instead, it’s frustration and trauma surrounding us and we got nowhere to voice out our frustrations. We felt hopeless after the Premier’s visit because we realized that no one was willing to hold the Mine accountable for what happened.
As the Premier was addressing the community what she said in the media was embarrassing and disappointing and all that was reported in media, especially on SABC was only lies and maybe a campaign for the ANC, why? Because she said I quote ‘Jagersfontein is the stinking word and she heard that all the people are working. And that’s not true, nothing is happening and the people are starving and jobless living under poverty and trauma. We weren’t even given the chance of a platform where we could address our challenges not a single person was given a platform. But today they’ve come back to the community to sign an Indemnity form to claim their houses, we urgently ask the government to establish a Commission of Enquiry.
Now as an activist, I was well prepared for the meeting, I even wrote a letter to submit to the Premier but unfortunately I didn’t manage to meet her and it’s where I went to the Media people from News Room Africa and asked them to interview me so that I published the letter of our concerns from the community.
The letter read as follows:
To the: Honourable Premier
We humbly write you this letter in good faith to let you know about our concerns as the people of Jagersfontein.As we are still seeking closure regarding what happened in our town, we humbly urge the Premier to establish a Commission of Enquiry so that we all get healed from these wounds. We urge the Seventh Administration to consider and take action to protect the people’s Rights because as we all know the government have said itself ‘THE PEOPLE SHALL
GOVERN ‘
Our concerns are as follows:
– The malicious damage of the World Heritage Site
– Violation of the Human Rights
– State capture from all departments
-Disaster reports from all different spheres of government
Government must partake with the community on the way to the Royal Family King Charles. As we celebrate our Women’s Month and also honoring all women, we urge the Premier to listen to our grievances
‘Jwalo Kaha re tobane le lemena la ditau ,ke Wena fela yatla re pholoosa
Yours sincerely
Jagersfontein Communities
0646152129
