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GEORGE NEWS - The chairperson of the Public Works Portfolio Committee (PC) in the National Assembly, Carol Phiri, lashed out at the George Municipality during the PC’s oversight visit to the site of the Victoria Street building collapse earlier today, 19 November.
Phiri expressed exasperation when she saw the close proximity of the site to the municipal buildings, accusing George Municipality of negligence in its oversight of the tragic construction project.
She demanded an explanation from the new mayor, Browen Johnson, who was also present today.
Johnson said simply blaming the municipality was unfair, and that various spheres of government and stakeholders were responsible for oversight.
“Lessons have been learnt, we’ve changed our policies, we’ve worked on by-laws, it’s all in draft state, and it’s going to Council.
“I hope out of this - and we respect the oversight of this committee - that we can go to Parliament and say this unfortunate event that happened in George - we don’t want to see anything like this again, and here is how we’re going to fix it with the different stakeholders.”
The PC’s visit follows a recent meeting between the Human Settlements PC and the George Municipality, during which the municipality stood its ground, refusing to reveal any details of the Engineering Council of South Africa’s report on the collapse, which the municipality had received earlier this year and handed over to the police to form part of their criminal investigation. At that meeting, Phiri had said the government should subpoena the municipality because of its “disregard” for the committees.
Photos of the victims of the collapse were put up at the disaster site for today’s visit. Phiri apologised for the disaster on behalf of the government and promised that everything possible would be done to get to the bottom of what had led to it.
The members of the PC will be meeting with some of the survivors and family members of the victims in Thembalethu tomorrow morning.
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