A five-storey building in Victoria Street collapsed on May 6, where 81 construction workers were present, resulting in the deaths of 34 people and 28 were left injured. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Newspapers Archive
Cape Town - The ball is now in the court of the Department of Employment and Labour’s national chief inspector to decide whether the findings of their report compiled on the George Building collapse be made public.
David Esau, the Provincial Chief Inspector confirmed to the Cape Argus that it was now in the hands of their most senior official of inspectors when asked whether the report had been handed over to the police and other role-players.
“By Law the National Chief Inspector decides what happens to the report,” he said.
“We don’t make it available until she makes a decision.”
Following the incident, a team of inspectors from the Department were tasked to carry out their portion of the investigation.
On May 6, 2024, the building which was set to become a block of flats, collapsed in Victoria Road in George leaving construction workers trapped inside.
A total of 34 people died and 28 were left injured and were rescued by the efforts of the South African Police’s K9 Unit.
The Western Cape government had also undertaken to investigate the matter. Premier Alan Winde confirmed the report with structural engineering findings from the independent investigation had been handed over to provincial Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile and Captain Johan de Lange, the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) lead investigator.
Winde said last week the investigation was in the domain of the police and that charges could possibly be brought forward and that the technical findings were of such a nature that it would significantly assist the police’s investigation.
He added the findings of the independent probe could not be made public as it could impact and compromise the police’s investigation.
Police spokesperson Christopher Spies said the matter would only be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority once the investigation was complete.
Much of the success of the rescue was also attributed to the police’s k9 unit who managed to detect survivors underneath the rubble who were trapped for days.
One of these was construction worker, Gabriel Guambe who was found alive after more than 100 hours.
Nicholas Gotsell, Member of the Select Committee for Security and Justice said the same K9 unit which had helped to rescue workers, faced under resourcing.
One of these heroic dogs was Abby, who had found Guambe underneath the rubble.
“During our oversight visit on Friday, we met one of the life-saving dogs from the Cape Town K9 Unit – Abby, a Belgian Malinois. She became a national hero when she was awarded the Police Silver Cross for her life-saving work in George, which included the detection of the person who was retrieved alive after five days trapped under the rubble.
“Abby’s success is a reminder of what K9 Units are capable of and why it is important that these units must be fully resourced.”
Gotsell said the oversight visit included inspecting the k9 building at Maitland and noted severe shortage of dogs, with more than 50% of the handlers allocated to the unit do not have dogs.
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