Concrete tests questionable, says Tongaat Mall Commission
Testing pillar destroyed by pneumatic drill.
Some of concrete tests from the Tongaat Mall were done without presiding officers present.
This was revealed at the Commission of Inquiry into the Tongaat mall collapse last Friday.
The mall collapsed on November 19 last year, killing two people and injuring 29 others.
Presiding officer Phumudzo Maphaha began Friday’s hearing by chastising Gralio Precast’s advocate Saleem Khan for the way concrete strength tests done by Contest Concrete Technology Services were performed.
The commissioner refused to review the tests which were conducted by Contest.
“I feel somebody is undermining the rules, I have given an order in writing and they were not followed,” said Maphaha after the commission ruled earlier in the year that concrete tests had to be done in the presence of a presiding officer.
Maphaha was concerned the commission was only being given favourable test results by the lawyers. Khan had given the commission a shortened report from Contest.\\”I am starting to see a trend, where we request a full report and we get seven pages instead of the full 19 page report,” he said.
One of the pillars that samples were going to be taken from was destroyed by a pneumatic drill. Samples had to be taken from small bits of rubble that were left over.
The commission will hear the final test results at the next sitting on July 9.
