GEORGE NEWS - The widow of one of the victims of the George building collapse has approached the Western Cape High Court for an order declaring that the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) can be held delictually liable for the damages she suffered following the disaster.

Sylvia Magxwalisa, whose husband, Andile, died when the five-storey building under construction at 75 Victoria Street collapsed on 6 May 2024, argues that the NHBRC failed to fulfil its statutory duty to oversee and enforce compliance with building standards. 

She contends that the regulator's own forensic investigation, the findings of which were partly made public by the minister of human settlements, Thembi Simelane, in April 2025, identified serious inspection failures, irregular enrolment processes and systemic regulatory shortcomings within the organisation.

The application follows an unsuccessful attempt by the survivors and the families of those who died to engage the NHBRC on compensation.

One of the court documents is a letter to the families from the NHBRC's attorneys, denying liability arising from the collapse and the claims against it are restricted to specific statutory circumstances involving housing consumers and the Warranty Fund. It states that the victims have not proven that they qualify as "housing consumers" or provided a factual basis for holding the entity liable.

According to attorney André van Greunen of Van Zyl Kruger Attorneys in Cape Town, who is representing Magxwalisa in her court application, the sheriff had served the court application on the NHBRC on 31 March. The NHBRC subsequently entered an appearance to oppose based on a technical matter, which he said could delay the application by several months.

In her founding affidavit, Magxwalisa states: "I have lost the financial, physical and mental support of my husband, which but for the collapse I would still have had today."

Highlighting some of the failures as contained in the NHBRC's report, she points to insufficient grading certification of the technical and building parties that were involved. 

"The geotechnical report lacked crucial basic data required by an engineer to complete a competent and safe structural design of a building of this nature ... The fraudulent use of another NHBRC official's credentials to enrol the first phase of the development clearly demonstrates the failure of the NHBRC internal control system," reads the affidavit.

The late Andile Magxwalisa.

Various compulsory inspections by NHBRC inspectors were not done, "but [were] falsely claimed to have been performed". "Units were inspected and reported on that did not exist and were not yet constructed."

Magxwalisa claims the NHBRC wants to deflect the blame to other entities over which it has regulatory oversight. This is "... wholly inappropriate to expect traumatised and under-resourced victims to engage in years of litigation against a range of role players - many of whom acted under the NHBRC's auspices or failed due to NHBRC regulatory shortcomings. 

"As a matter of legal principle, joint and several liability would ultimately require the NHBRC to compensate victims and attempt contribution claims thereafter."

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