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The Department of Labour’s commission of inquiry into the Grayston Drive bridge collapse along the M1 which was scheduled to resume at the end of the month has been postponed again, the department said on Tuesday.
The inquiry, scheduled for March 27 to May 4, was postponed due to “technical challenges” affecting the proceedings, said presiding inspector Lennie Samuels.
“The postponement and delay is beyond our control and is regretted. The dates scheduled from the May 4 until June 9 will continue as scheduled,” he said.
Proceedings were brought to a halt in August last year and postponed to March 2017 after a short notice request from one of the parties for additional information from an expert witness representing Form-Scaff.
At the time, Samuels said the expert witness, Gary Farrow, an engineer from Australia, was in Melbourne and unable to come to South Africa because construction company Murray & Roberts had requested additional information, in a form of 72 questions. The witness could not deliver the requested information in time for the sitting.
Samuel said the commission would be in a predicament after lost days. “Next year [2017] we will be faced with added pressure because of time. I appeal to all affected parties to commit to time schedules when requested to submit statements and reports, so as to mitigate further delays.”
Form-Scaff, a market leader in the supply of form work, support work and scaffolding to the construction and civil engineering industries, was one of the role players in the construction of a walkway bridge that was built to link Sandton and Alexandra. Other parties involved in the project were the City of Johannesburg and the Johannesburg Development Agency, who were clients that appointed Royal HaskoningDHV as an agent. Murray & Roberts was the principal contractor and the supplier of material.
Workers and unions were also lined up to testify before the inquiry.
The inquiry was set up after the October 14, 2015, collapse of the temporary bridge structure across the M1 near the Grayston Drive off-ramp. The bridge collapsed onto cars passing underneath. Two people were killed and 19 other injured as a result.