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LOCAL NEWS AND VIDEO - This afternoon, a thank you message from the survivors and bereaved family members of the 6 May George building disaster to their rescuers, had a profound impact on everyone gathered for the outreach in the George City Hall.

Survivor Shadrack Maine from Lesotho, who lost both his left arm and leg when the building collapsed, read the message out loud on behalf of his co-survivors and the deceased.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who spoke to the survivors one-on-one before the gathering, was visibly touched.

Sitting in his wheelchair with the organiser of the event, George humanitarian, Muriel Hau-Yoon ever-supportive by his side, Maine's words gave everyone food for thought.

"We are fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
"We are bricklayers, carpenters cleaners, plasterers, supervisors, tilers and students with bright futures.
"We are from South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
"We are in our twenties, thirties and forties - in the prime of our lives. We just wanted to provide for our families."

Read the full speech at the end of this article.

In the week following the disaster on Monday 6 May at nine minutes past two, 62 people were pulled from the rubble. Of these 28 survived, some with life-changing injuries, while 34 lost their lives.

Over 140 rescue workers and medical staff as well as 1 200 volunteers from across South Africa were deployed to the site.

At today's gathering, that also had the intention to bring a measure of healing, everybody had a lump in the throat and fought to hold back the tears as 34 candles for the victims were lit by grief stricken family members.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde spoke to some of the survivors one-on-one before the gathering.

Several investigations into the building collapse are underway with the police investigation carrying the most weight as their evidence will be used by the NPA in their decision to prosecute or not.

Winde said should the investigation ordered by the Western Cape Government, which is currently being peer reviewed by other engineers, point to culpability, he will not be able to make the findings public as it will then most likely be used as evidence in court.

He told those gathered that he, like the survivors and families, also wants answers and that their must be consequences. "This will be revealed by the investigations. The investigations will also determine if we need to change the planning laws in order to prevent a disaster like this from ever happening again."

Those affected by the disaster complained about the lack of assistance and action from the side of the Department of Social Development and Winde promised to look into their allegations, but also stressed that his office is not authorised to provide compensation.

Family members queried R18 000 deducted from the R173 000 George Municipality collected from the public on behalf of the disaster victims. Vouchers of about R2 500 each were recently handed out, but the distributer Famsa apparently charged an R18 000 "administration fee".

Acting George Municipal Manager Godfrey Louw said there are no funds missing and Famsa will submit a full report of their expenses.

The families also said that they should have been asked if they rather wanted the cash instead of a Shoprite/Checkers voucher. "We need to be consulted on matters like this. The money was donated to us."

They said Rotary, whose Diane Kershaw and team have been wonderfully supportive of the survivors, would have been a more appropriate organisation to handle the collected public donations.  

Video: Remembering the 34 lives lost: George Building Disaster memorial 

At the back is volunteer Sibusiso Ngobese who calls Diane Kershaw of Rotary (right) an angel and fairy godmother, with Shadrack Maine.   THE FULL MESSAGE BY THE GEORGE BUILDING COLLAPSE SURVIVORS

 We are fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.
We are bricklayers, carpenters, cleaners, plasterers, supervisors, tilers, and students with bright futures.
We are from South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
We are in our twenties, thirties. and forties- in the prime of our lives.
We just wanted to provide for our families.
On Monday 6 May 2024, our lives were shattered forever.
In a few seconds, 62 families would never be the same again.
For 34 of us, there was no time to say goodbye.
No time to say I'm sorry. No time to say I love you.
For 28 of us, we were given a second chance at life.
We are here today to say thank you to the brave men and women who risked their lives to save us.
Now we are building up our lives again. And we seek justice.
But we are also filling the deep cracks with love and forgiveness and appreciation.
We thank the volunteers for being there for us when everybody else had forgotten us.
We thank the dedicated journalists for speaking truth to power.
We thank the hard-working investigators for seeking justice for us.
We thank the generous donors of George for putting food on the table.
And we thank you Premier Winde for being the first leader since the tragedy seven months ago for listening and showing compassion.
Most of all we thank Almighty God for His everlasting grace and mercy.

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