Tongaat mall enquiry continues
The commission of inquiry into the mall collapse in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal, is expected to continue on Wednesday.
A section of the mall, which was under construction, collapsed in November. A woman was killed and 29 people were injured.
The department of labour's occupational health and safety manager Phumudzo Maphaha was appointed to preside over the commission, which would investigate events leading to the collapse of the Tongaat mall.
The department was expected to call between 20 and 50 witnesses to appear before the commission.
On Tuesday, its first day, the inquiry heard that a slab of concrete sagged in the days leading up to the collapse.
Ronnie Pillay, a foreman at Gralio Precast, said one of the slabs at the mall sagged by 70 mm.
Pillay said the area that ultimately collapsed was to the right of the sagging slab. When he noticed the sagging slab he contacted the engineer Andre Ballack and informed him of the problem. He also contacted Gralio owner Jay Singh.
Pillay said ultimately the instruction was to build two beams under the sagging slab.
He believed that had the supporting columns been bigger the collapse would have been averted and had raised his concerns with Singh. He was later advised these were sufficient.
On the day of the collapse, November 19, Pillay said he was on the edge of the slab when he heard a deep sound and that within seconds the entire slab started caving in a hole, coming towards him.
He and two other supervisors fled in the opposite direction.
A total of R2-million was expected to be spent on the commission's work, which was expected to be concluded in six months.
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