Report on George building collapse finds engineer ‘incompetent’ – police preparing charges

The South African Police Services in George have confirmed that they have received a report from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) following their investigation of the structural engineer of the George building. Last month, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) and ECSA presented the findings of their report into the collapse of the building in George in May last year.

One of the seven findings of the report is that the engineer responsible for the structural system lacked the necessary competency required to oversee a project of this complexity.

During the press conference, ECSA’s president, Thembinkosi Madikane told reporters that they conducted a hearing and the engineer was found guilty on all the five charges levelled against him. The engineer also received the maximum fine possible and his registration with ECSA has been cancelled.

The engineer was registered in March 1987 with ECSA as a professional engineering technologist. He was not a first time offender according to the body – there were two previous complaints against him before the George building collapse.

“The competent person for the structural system seemingly lacked necessary expertise for the design of a complex structure. You don’t go to a GP [general practitioner] for a specialised function. In this case the competent person that was appointed was a generalist and the project was a complex one,” explained Dr Msizi Myeza the CBE’s chief executive officer at the media briefing in George last month. According to the CBE, the reliance of engineers on self assessment is one of the problems that they seek to rectify.

Responding to the report findings, the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa) slammed the notion of self-assessment as one of the ways big business uses to cut costs. “‘Competence’ under capitalism is a lie. The revelation that the approved structural ‘competent person’ lacked necessary expertise exposes a deeper truth: the system relies on cheap, often under-qualified labour, and self-regulation, precisely because rigorous oversight and genuine expertise costs capital. Self-assessment without verification is a concession to industry pressure, placing workers in peril,” said Giwusa president, Mametlwe Sebei.

Survivors struggle to survive

During the press conference, Elelwani Mawela, one of the survivors told reporters that she is struggling with medical bills as she cannot afford to fix her teeth. She is bullied in her community because she does not have teeth. Mawela said that she sometimes consider committing suicide because of it.

Meanwhile, Shadrack Maine who is a Lesotho national said that he lives on handouts from people in the community and from the George Rotary Club. Maine stays in a one-room shack with a friend in Thembalethu.

The police say that the investigation is at an advanced stage and will be handing the docket to the National Prosecuting Authority upon conclusion.