GEORGE NEWS - A legal opinion that George Municipality has obtained in regard to any potential liability for the local authority stemming from the Neo Victoria building disaster, indicates that it cannot be held liable for losses suffered.
According to a report tabled to the George council on Thursday 5 December, Section 23 of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act provides statutory protection to a local authority against liability for losses incurred during the construction of a building, provided the building plans have been duly approved.
The former municipal manager [Dr Michele Gratz] had ordered that a legal opinion be obtained with specific reference to three aspects:
- Whether the municipality could be held liable in cases where a Form 2 (in terms of the Act) had been submitted to appoint a professional person to act on behalf of the property owner, as was the case in the Neo Victoria development
- Inspection requirements: Whether the interpretation that no municipal inspections are required during construction, once an engineer has been appointed for the project, is correct
- Potential delictual liability (relating to harm caused).
According to the report, the building plans were approved on 6 July 2023, after compliance with all related standards, codes and applicable by-laws were confirmed by the commenting departments and building control officer.
Own technical investigation
The municipal manager (MM) had also determined that the municipality does its own technical investigation into the causes of the collapse.
A structural engineering company from Pretoria, EDS Engineering Design Services, was appointed whose investigation already began with on site while the site was being cleared.
According to the report, the provincial government, that is doing its own investigation, and the municipality have an agreement that province will make available the results of laboratory testing on materials and soil samples from the provincial investigation as soon as these are available. Only once these results are received will EDS Engineering be able to finalise their report.
The MM's decision to launch an investigation was made on the grounds of local responsibility. Since the collapse happened in George, it was regarded as crucial that the municipality did its own fact-finding exercise in the best interests of the town.
Potential litigation against the municipality, "whether justifiably or not", was also being anticipated, and it was considered sensible not to rely only on information gathered by external parties.
Municipality forks out R9,3m
The report gives a summary of the response by the George Fire Department, that was on the scene first and took control, as well as other emergency and municipal services.
A list, that does not include all expenses, indicate that the municipality's response cost about R9 296m in total. According to the report, a panel attorney was appointed to institute proceedings to recover the costs from the property owners or "any other party deemed legally liable".
The 'non-exhaustive' list of the costs incurred is as follows:
- Hiring of trucks for rubble removal - R5,17m
- Trauma counselling and debriefing of employees - R51 762
- Backfilling of site with gravel - R71 778
- Overtime for fire staff - R250 600
- Replacement of irreparable jaws of life - R627 144
- Vehicle running costs - R131 468
- Infrastructure repairs, material removal and safeguarding of site - R2,039m
- Overtime for traffic, land invasion and law enforcement staff - R953 374
The site, excavated to accommodate a basement parking area, had been filling up with water after various rain spells following the collapse.
This has recently been drained and the site is being filled up to ground level again. The developer confirmed that it was to make the site safer and not for any building works.
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