LISTEN | Owners of collapsed building 'missing' as search for survivors continues

Owners are 'obliged by law to contact the labour department'

09 May 2024 - 17:10
By Phathu Luvhengo
Heavy equipment being used to break up the concrete in the search for survivors at the site of the collapsed building in George on Thursday.
Image: Werner Hills Heavy equipment being used to break up the concrete in the search for survivors at the site of the collapsed building in George on Thursday.

The department of employment and labour's inspectors are unable to contact the owner of the collapsed George building.

The department's inspectors have been trying to contact the owner since they arrived at the scene on Tuesday. 

We went to the address on our system and it was locked. We issued a subpoena but until today [Thursday], there has been no response from that particular person,” said the department's provincial chief inspector David Esau.

He said the department would institute legal processes.

I am hearing everywhere that he is making contact with people through his attorneys. That's not our business. He is obliged by law to be in contact with the department of employment and labour,” Esau said.

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Labour minister Thulas Nxesi visited the site on Thursday and briefed the media. He said the department had not started investigations but had secured records. 

He said the records reflected that there were 81 people on site when the building collapsed.

Nxesi was unable to say when investigations would be concluded. 

When we deal with a matter like this you can’t put a timeline to it. Some investigations have taken six months, and some a year. 

He said de did not know when the police would be able to hand over the site.

Nxesi said he had a heavy heart given what he had seen and didn't want to speculate on what had gone wrong. He said he had appealed to the employer to engage the families of the victims.

“It would be good from a moral point of view that the employer, wherever he is, or the owners, whoever they are, to just talk to these families,” said Nxesi.

George municipality confirmed at 3pm on Thursday that the numbers were unchanged, with 37 workers retrieved.  Eight are dead, 16 are in a critical condition, six have life-threatening injuries and seven have minor injuries.

As the search and rescue operation passed the 72-hour (three-day) mark, with no more people rescued, 44 people remained unaccounted for.    

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