City of Johannesburg divisional chief for Emergency Management Services (EMS) Freddy Morukhu said the two-storey building in Ormonde would have collapsed at anytime.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
Repeated building collapses point to deeper structural issues that must be urgently reviewed to improve building safety and construction oversight, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson says.
With the country having experienced three building collapses in less than three years, the minister stressed the importance of preventing unnecessary deaths.
Macpherson on Tuesday outlined the proper legal parameters to be followed in the investigation of the Ormonde building collapse, which has resulted in the death of nine workers.
Macpherson visited the site of the disaster and announced that the investigation into the building would be conducted by the Council for Built Environment (CBE), which regulates professionals within the sector.
"As I have said before, we should never normalise the collapse of any building. Buildings are not meant to collapse, and therefore, must have been serious failures that led to the tragedy we witnessed," he stated.
City of Johannesburg divisional chief for Emergency Management Services (EMS) Freddy Morukhu said the two-storey building in Ormonde would have collapsed anytime.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
Earlier in the day, speaking on behalf of the City of Joburg, Monageng Rapulane, indicated that the collapsed structure had over 50 employees.
They were said to be working inside and outside the construction site before the concrete slab caved in, injuring some of the workers, with three others entombed in the rubble until they were rescued following rescue operations between Monday and Tuesday.
Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, who also visited the site, expressed his profound sorrow over the lives lost.
Speaking alongside Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour, Jomo Sibiya, Lesufi said: "It hurts me to lose lives like this. And it also hurts me to have people who need to work for their families to be either sleeping in or admitted in hospital purely because of some things that have not been done properly."
Lesufi stressed the importance of accountability, saying that those responsible for the construction site must face the consequences of their actions.
Sibiya indicated that the department has found itself in yet another unfortunate situation following the George building collapse in 2024.
Last week marked almost two years since the George building collapse that killed 34 people, with the announcement that the case is now with prosecutors.
"What we are seeing here is something that we should not be seeing. If everyone in this country took issues of compliance seriously, we would not be here. If people complied with all the laws, we would not be here."
Sibiya said as the police and the department begin their investigations into the reasons for the structural collapse, his department remains deeply concerned by the rampant disregard for laws.
"There are issues of concern. We are going to be investigating as a department, as the mayor has confirmed that the ninth body has been recovered. We believe that the City of Johannesburg team will soon hand over the site to the SAPS, who will, in turn, hand it over to our department, and our team of specialists is going to start digging deeper into the investigation," he said.
Cape Times