The Department of Labour says the commission of inquiry appointed to probe the Grayston Drive pedestrian bridge collapse has completed hearing oral evidence and is now awaiting written closing arguments.

“The commission now awaits the submission of written heads of arguments by legal representatives of interested stakeholders by 14 August 2018. This will be followed by written responses to the heads of argument which are expected to be submitted by 17 September 2018,” the department said in a statement.

The Section 32 hearing was set up to investigate the 14 October 2015 incident, which led to the death of two people and 19 others being injured.

The inquiry, which resumed on 2 July following a nine-month respite, completed its work ahead of the 27 September target.

Stakeholders in the inquiry include the City of Johannesburg as the client and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) as the agent.

It also included Royal Haskoning DHV, an engineering company appointed by JDA as the engineering agent for the project and Murray & Roberts (MR) as the principal contractor appointed by JDA, among others.

Witnesses that have previously appeared before the inquiry include Professor Roelf J. Mostert, an expert witness representing Murray and Roberts.

Following the latest session, some of the witnesses that appeared before the inquiry included Roxana Le Roux, an environmental, health and safety officer from Nemai Consulting as well as Oliver Aadnesgaard, an employee of Murray & Roberts who worked as an assistant to construction manager during the collapse of the temporary works structure.

The Grayston inquiry had its first sitting in February 2016.