Dispatches: Day 1 in Jagersfontein and its townships Itumeleng
By Hassen Lorgat
On Monday September 8, we arrived in the town and got orientated….some meetings with office bearers, including the Human Rights Commission. Shit. These guys walk everywhere. Maybe they should get a shoe allowance. I must have walked 12 km or more, and aching all over like a city boy..
Dispatches: Day 2 in Jagersfontein town
By Hassen Lorgat, 9 September 2025
Tuesday was a quiet by our standards, made more listless by an electricity cut for most of the day. It went on until the first half of Bafana Bafana vs Nigeria which I will tell you about later.
The boss lady at the guest house told us when the electricity goes off in the mine, it will go off in the town and Eskom can take 1 hour or 24 hours to fix or switch on the tripped switch.
Dispatches: Day 3 in Jagersfontein town
By Hassen Lorgat, 10 September 2025
Sorry about the delay; I was traveling back. This was crunch time, and the small town was abuzz. The sheriff had come to town. I was struck by how we define what happened in Jagersfontein in 2022. It is vital to how we deal with the aftermath. The company always wanted us to believe it was a disaster, or a natural disaster, whilst lawyers and others have been keen to define it as an “unnatural disaster”—that is to say, not a force of nature. Perhaps it is easier to simply call it corporate neglect or a crime committed by the corporations. It is their weak regulation and externalization of costs that we are now saddled with.
Dispatches from Jagersfontein: Day 4
By Hassen Lorgat, Personal reflections, 11 September 2025
Two overriding issues frame this briefing: the wider crisis of municipal failure to provide basic infrastructure and services, and the third anniversary of the Jagersfontein disaster. I am pleased to open with the success of our commemorative mass gathering. The community was proud to see its youth working for the common good, bolstered by the support of groups like Gift of the Givers and the moral support of the SA Human Rights Commission. The community storytelling, healing, inputs, and songs made for a fitting tribute as we mourned our lost ones.
Defending Democracy: The Role of Chapter 9 Institutions Amidst Attacks
By Hassen Lorgat. IOL Opinion, 25 July 2025
Last week (July 17, 2025) we participated in a demonstration when a group failed with hate, marched to the offices of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (Seri). While Seri were targeted by this group which one journalist called “vigilante anti-immigration group Operation Dudula”, they were attacking something much wider: our democracy.
CSOs 4 Tailings Justice 