By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa assured the families of victims of George Building Collapse that the government would be transparent and supportive while investigations into the tragedy unfolded.
Ramaphosa was accompanied by a delegation of the Western Cape Government, including Premier Alan Winde and MEC Anton Bredell.
According to an update report issued by George Municipality, in the Western Cape, at 12pm on Thursday, of the 81 people who were inside the building during the incident, 62 have been recovered. Thirty-three people have passed away, while 12 have been admitted in the hospital. Nineteen are still unaccounted for.
The cause of the collapse is yet to be established.
Following the site visit he addressed the family members in the city hall and expressed his sympathy to those who lost loved ones.
Ramaphosa pleaded for patience until the process to find out exactly what went wrong on Monday 6 May at the Neo Victoria apartment building is completed. “I am filled with sadness, but at the same time I want to give you the assurance that we will handle it as we should.”
He thanked the representatives of governments, his ministers, premier, and all involved in the operations on site for the way they handled the situation. “May God be with you and continue to put his hands on your shoulder. I am satisfied that in SA we know how to deal with disasters.”
He said that the disaster is a wake-up call and that we must ensure that this never happens again. “There are many lessons to be learned from what has happened.”
The presidential visit ended with a wreath laying for the deceased at the civic centre.
Colin Deiner, chief director of disaster management in the Western Cape, told the president that rescue teams were excavating the last two floors of the collapsed building and that the last slab of concrete would likely be lifted by Friday evening, at which point the scene would be handed over to the SA Police Service for further investigation.
We’ve started delayering the building, which basically means we are now lifting the concrete slabs off each other. It’s a very careful job because we’re working with huge machinery very close to potentially where people can be,” he continued.
“What we’re trying to do now is open up an area… we then drill holes in there and then we put the dogs on. If they indicate that they’ve found somebody, we will then treat that area quite carefully, put cameras in, try to pinpoint where the victim is, remove the victim. We then give the forensic pathology services a chance to process that and then we continue.”
On Thursday morning, the Garden Route joint operational centre said an estimated 2,500 tonnes of rubble had been removed from the site, with about 500 tonnes still remaining.
So far, 47 victims of the collapse have been linked with their families.
The Western Cape Department of Social Development has indicated that it will offer trauma support and bereavement counselling to families in need for a minimum of six months. These services will be made available to both citizens and non-citizens, according to Monique Mortlock, spokesperson for Western Cape MEC for Social Development, Sharna Fernandez.