During a visit to the site of a collapsed apartment building under construction a week ago, Police Minister Bheki Cele expressed concerns yesterday regarding the lack of cooperation from the project’s developer.
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The death toll from the collapse reached 20 last night, with rescue efforts ongoing to locate and extract individuals trapped beneath the rubble. Additionally, 32 people remain unaccounted for. Addressing the media at the site, Cele highlighted the lack of transparency from both developers and contractors in disclosing information about the workers involved in the project.
‘Indeed, they (police) are working with them to get information. But if information is not forthcoming the police are instructed to enforce and uphold the law,’ said Cele.
As per the minister’s statement, the companies associated with the project have declined to provide documentation regarding the workers and have also declined to engage with their families.
‘There’s nothing wrong to just go and say (to the families), “we sympathise with you, we can’t talk but we’ll work with you,”‘ said Cele.
The previous week, the land-owning company disassociated itself from the employment of construction workers at the site. Neo Victoria Developments (Pty) Ltd issued a statement through their legal representative, Hanno Brummer & Associates, aimed at rectifying any misunderstandings and misinformation.
The legal firm clarified that their client was the developer of the building project, not the building contractor. They emphasised that the contractor was appointed by their client to manage the construction process. Additionally, the statement highlighted that the developers did not have any employees on the site, and the workers were either employed by contractors or sub-contractors.
Furthermore, Neo Victoria affirmed its cooperation with the police investigation, offering assistance since the outset. In earlier remarks, Theuns Kruger, director of Liatel Developments, the contracted builder of the structure, expressed efforts to aid individuals at the site of the five-story residential building.
‘The investigations to follow obviously will reveal what has transpired and what has happened, but at this point it’s just saving as many people as we possibly can,’ Kruger said.
According to George Municipality, a pre-application form for the proposed development was submitted on 3 September 2020, by Jan Vrolijk, a town planner representing the landowners. The building plan application was subsequently approved on 6 July of the preceding year and issued to the applicant.
‘The plans were only approved once the building control officer was satisfied the requirements were met,’ said George Municipality spokesperson Chantel Edwards.
‘The value of the development was estimated at R39 544 000 at the time of approval.’
‘The development consisted of a basement parking area, ground-floor parking, and four floors of residential apartments above the parking. There are 42 apartments proposed and approved on the building plans.’
‘The municipality has no record of previous safety violations by the developer within the George municipal area,’ Edwards said.
She further explained compliance during construction. ‘The developer with his professional team is not obliged to submit any compliance report to the municipality. The normal practice is that the owner and developer, together with their professional team, will have weekly/bi-weekly, or monthly meetings and inspections where progress reports are submitted to the owner/client,’ Edwards said.
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Picture: Lulama Zenzile / Gallo Images