Durban - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is still far from making a decision on the oThongathi Mall collapse, the authority said.
The R208 million mall, built by Gralio Precast which is run by controversial Durban businessman Jay Singh, collapsed in 2013, killing two people and injuring 29 others.
The company was also involved in the construction of housing units in the Cornubia development.
Advocate Moipone Noko, KwaZulu-Natal’s Director of Public Prosecutions, said her office received the Department of Labour’s report into the incident in November 2016. The department’s inquiry into the collapse was concluded in March 2016.
Noko said it took about nine months for the departmental experts to compile their report.
“This, it is submitted, is an indication of the complexity of the case and the volume of the evidence received,” she said.
She added that considering the department officials charged with hearing the evidence at the Commission of Inquiry and who were also responsible for the compilation of the report are experts in the field concerned, the NPA, who are legal officers, are not trained in structural and civil engineering.
“The study and evaluation of the evidence from the inquiry and the report is not only time consuming, but extremely complex,” Noko said yesterday.
She said the evidence arising was objectively outside the customary ambit of criminal investigations and accordingly, could not be compared with matters ordinarily referred to the NPA for its decision.
“In this regard therefore, the process is regrettably not as speedy as one could wish for. The study and evaluation of the inquiry evidence, documents and oral testimony, which are voluminous has largely been concluded,” she said.
According to Noko, a report comprising a precise and evaluation of the evidence against the background of the department’s report and recommendations is due to be drafted and “will be furnished to the DPP in the near future”.
Gralio was still receiving multimillion-rand tenders from the eThekwini Municipality after the mall collapse.
A recent contract worth R17.2m to build 400 top-structure units in the Emalangeni phase 3 housing project in wards six and seven near Hammarsdale was revealed last week at the city’s Executive Committee (Exco) council meeting.
Responding to the news from the NPA, Singh said he was last contacted by the Department of Labour in 2016 when he was informed they had handed their report to the NPA.
He said he had no knowledge of the progress of the matter, and admitted he was still doing business with the city.
“What’s wrong with me doing business with the municipality? What happened at the mall was not my fault. I have thousands of people working for me and I have to pay their salaries.
“Whatever the media says won’t make a difference. I have decided to just sit and wait and if I see any incorrect stories about me or my company in the media, I’ll take action,” Singh said.