Schooling continues as normal in the disaster stricken Jagersfontein in the Free State.
The provincial Department of Education has dispatched its own team to assess the situation at schools after a dam at South Africa’s abandoned diamond mine collapsed on Sunday morning (11/09).
Howard Ndaba, spokesperson of the department, says no school infrastructure was damaged and that majority of the learners attended school this morning, despite the shocking incident.
“The department will have a full report of the situation today after assessing the situation at schools in town. We, however, are expecting a few learners to be absent and those must be from families affected by the collapse of the dam yesterday,” says Ndaba.
The three schools, St Lawrence, Middlebaar and Boaramelo Combined School are not situated on the part where the dam spillages swept away numerous properties and cars in this impoverished town located about 100 km from Bloemfontein.
The flood caused power outages in Jagersfontein and the evacuation of several residents.
Some of the affected victims have been transported to Bloemfontein while the Free State government is assessing the extent of damage caused.
Most affected residents are those living in Charlesville and Red Location which are located awfully close to the dam. The incident has resulted in the death of one person whose body was recovered yesterday, while 40 people were hospitalised after the dam wall collapsed.
