Jagersfontein residents face challenges as poverty bites

JAGERSFONTEIN - Jagersfontein, a small little-known mining town in the Free State, was thrust into the spotlight recently.

A tailings dam wall collapse left at least one person dead and 164 families homeless.

WATCH: Jagersfontein residents pick up the pieces after disaster

While the disaster left a trail of destruction, some hope the attention will help unchain the shackles of poverty.

The town is famous for producing some of the clearest diamonds of the early 1900s.

It's also home to the deepest hand-excavated hole in the mining world.

READ: Jagersfontein families file lawsuit against mine

With this rich and successful diamond mining history, and with mining operations still ongoing, you'd expect residents here to be living in relative comfort.

But locals say this is certainly not the case.

* eNCA's Aviwe Mtila reports.