John Bulter, a branch manager of Foamscaff Engineers that supplied designs, column shutters, and scaffolding materials to the Tongaat Mall project testified that not having proper designs for various concrete structures could have catastrophic results.

Although Foamscaff supplied materials to the project, it did not supply equipment and perform drawings to the portion of the mall that collapsed. The company was approached by Gralio Precast, the property developer, in April 2013 and did not have any formal contract.

Bulter told the Thongathi Mall Commission of Inquiry that, while his company supplied material to the construction site, it did not engage in the stripping and other day-to-day activities performed on the site. He further testified that Foamscaff did not have access to the project engineers, and that their point of contact was through project manager or foreman Ronnie Pillay.

Butler said that he was not aware of any revisions done during the project. He testified that, although he did go to the site of the mall on several occasions, “there was nothing in our view that was untoward.”

 

Previous testimony

During his testimony earlier this year, Ravi Jagadasan, the sole director of Rectangle Properties CC, a property development company and director of Gralio Precast, admitted to the  commission that the companies did not have approval to build the mall.

The Ethekwini Municipality had served the owners of the R220 million project with court papers to halt the project on 13 November 2013. The project was supposed to have been opened on 24 April 2014.