South Africa’s collapse George who died 34 was prevented, the minister says

The collapse of the building, which killed 34 construction workers and suffered dozens in the Western Cape, the city of George last May, was “completely prevented,” the government of South Africa says.

Recently published a report on the 2024 tragedy showed that serious security issues were arising long before the five -storey apartment block collapsed.

Public Works Minister Ding McFerson said collapse was the result of numerous failures, including the use of substandard materials, structural cracks and visible gaps.

“There were a number of red flags that were constantly arising in this project,” said a noticeable mac.

Some defects in the building were detected a year before the building collapsed. Health and security officer even retired, but the work continued the report.

“The work was supposed to stop,” said McFurson.

McFerson added that these signs were a chance to go back, but instead the problems with the building were “covered”.

The report states that workers say they feel vibrations in a partially constructed structure, and they were told to cover the holes with sand and substandard concrete.

Following the fact that the minister called the “emotional and painful” private meeting with the survivors and the families of the victims, he called for criminal responsibility for those who were recognized as negligent.

The police investigation continues, but the arrests were not conducted.

McFurson said many survivors still still face injury, medical accounts and fight for putting food on the table.

One of the disaster survivors, Elelvani, told the local media that her life had changed dramatically last year.

She lost a lot of teeth, struggling to eat and became the subject of bullying. She turned for money from good desire.

McFurson pledged to introduce rules to improve the supervision of the construction and reform of outdated legislation.

The probe was conducted by the Council for the Construction Settlement and the South African Engineering Council in a concurrent investigation.