- President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the areas affected by the Jagersfontein mine dam collapse.
- One person was killed, one person is unaccounted for, and 82 were hospitalised.
- The incident is not the first of its kind; almost 30 years ago, 17 people were killed in the Merriespruit tailings dam disaster.
Compensation for fatalities and damage to property, after the catastrophic fallout of the Jagersfontein mine dam collapse, will be the responsibility of the company that owns it, said Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.
Sunday's "accident" was not the first of its kind, he explained, referencing the Merriespruit tailings dam disaster, which took place almost 30 years ago.
Seventeen people were killed in February 1994, when the tailings dam failed and subsequently flooded the neighbourhood in Virginia, Free State with 600 000m³ of water and slime.
"Therefore, that precedence is going to guide our action in dealing with this one," Mantashe said. "In other words, the company that is the owner will take the bigger responsibility..."
The dam used to be owned by De Beers until it was sold to Superkolong Consortium in 2010.
Stargems Group, based in Dubai, this year acquired Jagersfontein Holdings, which ran the site used to process old tailings.
But Nathi Shabangu, a spokesperson for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, told Bloomberg the mine's dumps and slime still "belong" to De Beers, while the government's access has been restricted by a court order.
The abandoned mine's tailings dam collapsed at about 06:00 on Sunday.
The flow of water had stopped by Sunday afternoon, said Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
However, there had already been extensive damage.
On Sunday night, the premier of the Free State, Sisi Ntombela, and provincial and local government officials were at the disaster scene to ensure the affected households were in a safe place, while food parcels and blankets were distributed.
Ntombela said officials would meet with the representatives of the mine to "get an understanding of what might have gone wrong".
By nightfall, only two of the 82 patients hospitalised had not yet been discharged – a pregnant woman and a casualty who had suffered a fracture.
One person was killed, while one person is unaccounted for. The search will resume on Monday morning.
According to Minerals Council South Africa, Jagersfontein diamond mine was shut down in the 1970s.
The council and its members offered its assistance to the government, although it said it had no information about the ownership structure or the standard of management of the dumps.
"The Minerals Council has reached out to the South African authorities to offer whatever practical support and assistance the industry can provide regarding the Jagersfontein tragedy at this trying time," it said in a statement.
Mantashe said sludge dams were "not friends of the environment".
He said:
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the affected areas on Monday.