The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has concluded the processes to finalise evidence gathering and collect scientific and engineering information following the collapse of the tailings dam in Jagersfontein, in the Kopanong local municipality, in the Free State, on September 11, 2022, has been concluded. In response to the collapse of the Jagersfontein Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), the DWS had opened a criminal case on November 4, 2022, against the Jagersfontein Development mining company, in terms of Section 151 of the National Water Act (NWA) of 1998, pertaining to the release of a substance, such as slimes/mine process waste materials) that pollutes or has the potential to pollute water resources.
