Ravi Jagadasan, the sole director of Rectangle Properties CC, a property development company and director of Gralio Precast the company that was responsible for the construction of the Thongathi (Tongaat) Mall, today made an admission before the Commission of Inquiry that the companies did not have approval to build the Mall.
Jagadasan told the Commission of Inquiry that acting on the advice of his legal representative, he had instructed Gralio Precast, a company owned by Jay Singh to stop the project after receiving a Court order last November from eThekwini Municipality.
He told the commission that he was told by his team of architects that the project could still proceed on “pre–approved” plans. Jagadasan said he was shocked when he saw in the news that the mall had collapsed.
Asked by Phumudzo Maphaha, the Commission’s Presiding Officer if he was aware that the construction regulations requires that a competent person with (knowledge, training, experience, and qualification) needed to undertake a project of such magnitude as Thongathi Mall. Jagadasan said it depends what this regulations were! However, he said he was not aware of them.
He said he trusted Jay Singh’s wisdom, the Chief Executive Officer of Gralio, the construction company who boast 30 years of experience in the construction industry, who has also undertaken similar projects of building Malls and housing in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.
Despite having earlier told the commission, he had asked for the project to be halted, he said he was aware of changes in the design to enable trucks to maneuver.
The eThekwini Municipality had served the owners of the R220 million project with Court papers to halt the project on 13 November 2013. The project was supposed to have been opened on 24 April 2014.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Pillay, a foreman during the construction of the Thongathi Mall today told the Commission that he was not aware that it was part of his duty to ensure that he had to regularly obtain concrete tests results and verify the strength and quality.
“I was not really aware it was part of my responsibility,” testified Pillay.
He said he was performing his duties taking a lead from the drawings prepared by engineers led by Andre Ballack. Pillay further told the Commission that he was not aware of any revisions done on the drawings, as it was not his responsibilities.
The collapse of the Thongathi Mall led to the death of two people and 29 injured. Subsequent to this the Department of Labour appointed the Section 32 inquiry in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act to investigate instances of negligence that may have led to the death and injury of workers.
Maphaha said an announcement on the future of the Mall will be made in a month’s time.