George building consultant previously faced engineering council probe, but evidence insufficient to prove transgression

14 May 2024

The multibillion-rand construction industry in the Cape is in the spotlight after the catastrophic collapse of a building in George, with the death toll on Monday at 32 and rising.

Addressing the media at the site of the collapsed building in George on Monday, eight days after the disaster, the minister of public works, Sihle Zikalala, disclosed that the main contractor, Liatel Developments, was not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board.

This was, he said, as a result of a loophole in current legislation affecting only “private sector clients”.

Liatel oversaw the construction of the four-storey apartment block on Erf 15098, which was due to be occupied in August, while Mitchell & Associates served as structural and civil engineers and as the principal agent.

The plans for the ill-fated 75 Victoria project were signed off by the consulting engineer Atholl Mitchell.

Meanwhile, the Engineering Council Of South Africa (Ecsa) has confirmed to Daily Maverick through its spokesperson, Basetsana Khoza, that the body had received a complaint “about a registered person, which prompted an investigation as per the mandate of the council”.

Daily Maverick specifically named engineer Mitchell in our query to the Esca, as sources disclosed that a complaint had been lodged about his conduct on building sites but that “nothing had come of it”.

Khoza said in that instance “there was insufficient evidence, based on the investigation, to suggest a transgression of the applicable Code of Conduct for Registered Persons”.

The layers of the players on any building project, from architects to engineers to contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers can be as difficult to penetrate as the collapsed concrete slabs that now entomb at least 20 people of the estimated 81 who worked on the George site.

As of 6pm on Monday, the death toll stood at 32. A total of 61 people have been removed from the rubble. Twelve of those rescued were in hospital and 20 were still unaccounted for.

Unskilled and undocumented labour

A race against the clock has seen valiant rescue efforts coordinated at the scene of the disaster, with extraordinary solidarity and an outpouring of love and support from across the country and rescue workers working through the night.

City Press reported this weekend that 19-year-old Florence Kawunga was one of the missing. She had been employed as a cleaner but had ended up mixing cement on site, her brother, Matthew Simbye, told journalists.

A video of his sister doing so had been forwarded to Theuns Kruger, the director of Liatel, Simbye said.

Kawunga had been employed for four months when the multistorey building caved in on that awful Monday afternoon.

She has not been found and there is little hope she has survived.

Several investigations are being conducted, including by structural and engineering experts, the SA Police Service and the departments of labour and home affairs about the possible exploitation of undocumented foreign refugees and the violation of laws and regulations.

Speaking out

One Cape Town developer, who requested anonymity, dealt with Mitchell on a previous development.

The owner of the development, consulting and construction management company, told Daily Maverick that he was so concerned about the quality of Mitchell’s work on a project they collaborated on that he had called in other engineers to provide a second or third opinion and assessment.

“On a building site, the engineer is God. Even when he is wrong,” the developer said.

Mitchell, he added, was a “forceful” character who did not enjoy cooperating with other engineers and would seldom accept criticism or advice.

The developer added that he had been unhappy with the work delivered by Mitchell and had confronted him.

“I was wary of the work he had done on a project and called in three different engineers who agreed it was not acceptable and dangerous.

“But when I said I was calling in the lawyers, none of them would go up against him. Engineers can be like doctors, they are a closed community,” he said.

Mitchell was known for leveraging his power as the consulting engineer to withhold “form fours” — the completion certificates which enable a developer to begin selling units to the public.

Mitchell was also the consulting engineer on a site in Tableview in 2018 which caused endless frustration for an elderly couple, Emmy Wolff and her husband, who moved to Blouberg 40 years ago.

In January 2018 a “surfer’s house” next door to their property was demolished for new development, a four-storey block of flats. Mitchell was the consulting engineer with the developer.

When the boundary wall next to the Wolffs’ property collapsed, Mitchell was accused by the couple of “not acting swiftly enough to deal with the threat of further erosion”.

Mitchell undertook to repair the mess “within the next two months”.

He never did. And when the community newspaper Table Talk asked Mitchell about this he responded that he was no longer involved in the project and that the buck stopped with the developer.

Basement nightmare

While many have come forward and spoken about their encounters with Mitchell, all have asked not to be named although their identities are known to Daily Maverick.

A developer set out his nightmare experience with Mitchell, who was the consulting engineer on a project in a private housing estate.

“It was a two-storey development with a basement,” recalled our source.

The developer was already working with an engineer when a concrete supply company suggested he ask Mitchell for an opinion on the basement.

Mitchell’s solution was, the source said, to use precast concrete slabs.

“In the end, Atholl sort of muscled my engineer off the project. You can’t have two engineers contradicting each other and Athol was also cheaper.”

Problems began almost immediately when the developer noticed “no supervision on-site”, especially during work on crucial structural aspects, like casting the basement.

“I would have a question for Atholl but he would refer it to his draughtsman and tell me to deal with him directly. He was either in Australia on holiday or in the Kruger Park.”

Mitchell would often send an associate or his draughtsman to check on the work.

Matters came to a head when our source said he demanded better oversight from Mitchell on the project and appointed a different engineer to do inspections and oversee the construction layer by layer.

“Atholl does not like to work with other engineers so we parted ways,” said our source.

Another consultancy subsequently found that this two-storey house had been “under spec” with no beams and no columns reinforcing the basement.

“We had to do two huge ‘footings’ of 2.6m across as well as columns to put up with the load of the building. We also had to place two skins of bricks on the parameter as there was going to be nothing there.”

Luckily, the source added, it was early enough in the construction to fix these flaws, which could have proved fatal.

Right of reply

Those who have contacted Daily Maverick have retained copies of their communication with Mitchell regarding complaints directed at him and his company.

Daily Maverick has offered Mitchell the right to reply by contacting him at the email address listed for his business as well as the cellphone registered to him.

At the time of writing, the publication was yet to receive a response.

The day after the building collapse, Mitchell was reported missing on the Facebook Pink Ladies missing persons page but was found a few hours later.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Consulting engineer who signed off plans for collapsed George building reported missing — later found

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Unskilled and undocumented labour

Speaking out

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Right of reply