By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
National Police Minister Bheki Cele has interacted with the families of disaster victims of the George building in the Civic Hall, expressing his sympathy and giving the assurance that everything is being done to retrieve their loved ones as soon as possible.
The death toll of the George building collapse has risen to 20 after more bodies were recovered on Sunday afternoon.
Recovery and rescue missions continue into the sixth day at the collapsed building with 32 people still trapped beneath the rubble, while 14 people are still in hospital.
Cele accompanied by national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, and deputy national commissioner for policing and special operations, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, visited the site earlier this afternoon.
He explained that in cases where identification has not been done, the necessary documentation is missing because many of the people on the construction site were seemingly undocumented. He said the Labour Department must also provide information for those people who are indeed documented.
The developer and contractor as well as six other contractors subcontracted by the main company must furthermore help the police to find out who these people are. Cele said the police are working with them to obtain the information, but it is not forthcoming. “Not only that – I’ve been told that they are not showing their faces to the people that are there (families in the George Civic Hall).”
Cele said, he found it inhumane that the contractor had not visited the families to at least sympathise with them. “I’ve got a feeling there is not much cooperation in the matter. For now, everybody should be working together.”
He said however, that it should be remembered that police are instructed by the Constitution to enforce the law. If there is no cooperation, the police will have to “walk the extra-legal mile”.
He gave the assurance that the police were following the matter and had sent its deputy national commissioner to be on the ground in George.
On a sombre Mother’s Day, George Municipality fire chief Neels Barnard said they remained hopeful of recovering more survivors despite the confirmed fatalities from the building collapse so far.
“We hope and pray that we can find another live victim in the building. We are doing our utmost best, and we will continue until the last minute to recover bodies,” Barnard said during a briefing on Sunday morning.