Tongaat Mall report to be release soon

A Labour Department report into the Tongaat Mall collapse that killed two people, will be released before Christmas. File Photo: Rogan Ward

A Labour Department report into the Tongaat Mall collapse that killed two people, will be released before Christmas. File Photo: Rogan Ward

Published Nov 27, 2015

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Durban - A Department of Labour report into the Tongaat Mall collapse that claimed the lives of two people and injured another 29 will be released before Christmas.

That is according to the department’s spokesman Mokgadi Pela, who on Friday said: “The report will be released before Christmas, that I assure you.”

Pela would not be drawn on whether the report had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a determination on whether criminal charges would be lodged.

“I don’t want to pre-empt anything,” he said.

Following the partial collapse of the mall on November 19, 2013, the department appointed a commission of inquiry, headed by labour department occupational health and safety manager Phumudzo Maphaha, to investigate the reason for the collapse.

During the several sessions that the inquiry sat in Tongaat, north of Durban, it emerged that concrete strengths at several parts of the mall were below standard and that several steel enforcement bars were missing.

It also emerged that plans for the development had never been approved by the eThekwini Metro Municipality.

Durban businessman Jay Singh, whose company Gralio Precast (Pty) Ltd, was building the mall, said the collapse was caused by its poor design, which was drawn up by structural engineer Andre Ballack.

The development has since been sold.

African News Agency

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