George building collapse: Claims of undocumented workers

Police are investigating claims that some of the employees who were working on the #GeorgeBuildingCollapse construction site may have been unskilled and others undocumented.
Labour Expert and Consultant Tony Healy speaks to Newzroom Afrika's Iman Rappetti about undocumented workers and some of their challenges.
Tune into Newzroom Afrika DStv channel 405 for more.

[@mikespencer4922]

Undocumented workers did not collapse that building. José Caralho from Mozambique who pushes a barrow had no part in the collapse. It was either crap engineering or sub standard matarials.... or both.

[@nomagcisacawe3297]

Jose must talk to his government about repatriation of remains. No one said the illegals collapsed the building.

[@shanaazcloete8531]

Whatever excuse you want to use to defend exploiting cheap labour, ITS AN OFFENCE TO EMPLOY ILLEGALS and the Employer will be punished for it. It would be poetic justice if the real course was poor engineering or poor material but he goes down and hopefully bankrupt because of .employing illegal immigrants!!! This is what contributes to the unemployment of South Africans and it has been exposed in all its Glory. No one can argue again that foreigners DON'T TAKE JOBS from South Africans, a narrative Whites and the media have been pushing down our throats. .THE APARTHEID IDEOLOGY OF THE EXPLOITATION OF BLACK WORKERS AND THE EXCLUSION OF NON WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN WORKERS FROM THE ECONOMY, IS ON FULL FRONT DISPLAY. The Patriotic Alliance has been dancing with Joy at the exposure.

[@aeiou2]

No one said they collapsed the building, they are undocumented meaning they shouldn't be in the country nevermind work in the country. You are so defensive for nothing, pay attention. Africans are being exploited, be upset about that instead of being ready to shout Xenophobia again.

[@sandramakhumalo2636]

Wrong, everyone working there is to be blamed. Whether it was the planning or materials, whatever the case they are all to blame, even the workers themselves. What business do you have applying and accepting a job you have no qualification for? South Africans sitting here jobless and your defending this... Let them investigate, I promise you half those ppl are undocumented and unqualified! 😢

[@hermansmith3262]

Agree. Open border policy?? Millions of undocumented persons in SA? Does government really think they will not work here? The problem begins with government. They are responsible. Buildings on the other hand collapses due to wannabe engineerings and construction companies. Everyone nowadays have a cheap certificate with no real experience or qualifications. Viva!

[@clarke7230]

As truck drivers and other low skill workers like mechanics, plumbers and other general workers,we have been complaining about prevalence of migrants dominating all jobs and economic opportunities in Cape town and other provinces in South Africa

[@glennrynhoud9424]

Mechanics, low skill ?

[@clarke7230]

@@glennrynhoud9424 Yes. Mechanic is a low skill. Me and my brother are qualified mechanics but we can't compete with floods of migrants who always undercut us and that has made us to take normal jobs

[@NormEngel-ge2it]

@@clarke7230 True. The fast food and tourism industry in Cape Town is saturated with foreign nationals, while South Africans cannot find employment.

[@thembikunene4531]

This is all 9 ptovinces ehich is overall the whole of South Africa, it's a problem and the ANC not doing anything about this.

[@glennrynhoud9424]

@@clarke7230 so what you are saying is ,huge companies are allowing low skilled workers to maintain and repair their multi million dollar machines, example, very expensive and complex earth moving machines, ships, super cars etc by people with low skill. Nonsense Mr Clarke. Maybe you are speaking for you and your brother, do not paint all artisans with the same brush. It shows ignorance.

[@Arti-ficiallyChi]

I cam speak for the area around where I live....certain roads where unemployed men wait around from the morning with their signs or paint rollers etc and you will see bakkies stop to pick up whoever is available... but this been going on for decades...

[@leonhue722]

This problem of undocumented employment is rife and now the government is just so surprised and indignant regarding this practice.

[@user-eb7wv5wt3j]

Lots of this is in The Western Cape The DA is busy with a cover up this is why the developer is taking so long, busy fixing the paper work.

[@leonhue722]

@user-eb7wv5wt3j hmmm ... doubt it. Remember developer just finances as contractor, sub contractor, engineers, site foreman and building inspectors know whose employed on site. The developer hadn't taken possession of the structure yet.

[@hendrickswart4122]

Undocumented workers don't exist. They are ILLEGAL migrants.

[@user-eb7wv5wt3j]

Just sent all of them to jail and the DA who is busy with the cover up.

[@cathy001hopkins6]

Please everyone, stop the blame game. This has been a horrendous incident. Let us remember the family's of the deceased workers, and still pray for the workers who survived, they will live with this for ever. A big thank you to all those who have worked tirelessly in the rescue teams, it shows how people from all walks of life can pull together in times of tragedy. Remember, the people working on the building, are also people looking to put bread on the table for their family's. May the Lord give all involved love peace and understanding.

[@thembimaseko9600]

The man knows very well that they will not pay those illegal workers. Firstly their families may not be aware where they were working.

[@user-do8sc3em9v]

I live in the Queensburgh 2:19 area and a while back whilst the new Malvern Mall was being constructed I walked past and decided I wanted to see the progress I walked onto the site past the ribbons and steel en losing the site and a worker approached me and asked me to leave I was offended as I thought does he honestly think I am going to damage the bloody building After lustening to this I now realize that had anything happened to the building ( Thank God it didn't ) I would have been somewhere where I wasn't supposed to be That worker was doing his job and I thank him now for asking me to leave 🙏🙏

[@user-sm3ex4pf7z]

Loss of life is an unfortunate and sad event. RIP to the departed workers, speedy recovery to the hospitalized. I still think that it's better this high storey human settlement building crumbled at thi stage. How catastrophic would it have been, if it had already have been fully occupied with tenants. Some bad things need to happen to save a lot more. So sad

[@valsables5299]

WHY U DONT ASK GOVERNMENT LABOUR DEPT WHY THEY NEVER CHECKED THE SITE WHICH IS RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. JESUS !

[@Chunky_Schoomer]

As long as you have the signed R50 and the R100 forms with you they will look the other way

[@thembikunene4531]

I agree the labout department doesn't care and Soutb African citizens have been complaining about this for the past 15 of not 20 years. Sadly this silly and corrupt government doesn't care.

[@petrabarrett2433]

How can they put in a claim if they got no paperwork and are not registered...how do you proof you paying the right person.????

[@Chunky_Schoomer]

If they have no papers how do you know they are not a murderer?

[@user-eb7wv5wt3j]

because they are in trouble

[@haroldmartiens5235]

Big spotlight will be placed on labour legislation specifically OHS

[@BAYHOMEIMPROVEMENTS_PE]

No one seem to care about fellow African brothers and sisters who are vulnerable due to bureaucracy. I tried several times to register my employees who are South Africans with DOL but Null and Void

[@cloudstrife8791]

We wanted to extend our zim gardener a few years ago before the ZEP permit was to expire and if a black SA answered they would start attacking us or put the phone down. Friends in social work were helping kids register for IDs to write matric. They say they had all sorts of aggression if it came to a foreigner but they all passed the 2013 law check. UBuntu at its finest...

[@MKL_D]

​@@cloudstrife8791there is enough Gardners in SA. You don't need to import one.

[@clarke7230]

You are lying and believing your lies. You can register any employee if you really want to register them. If you can register a company and other assets then why it be difficult with the employee? You don't have a willpower to register them.

[@nomagcisacawe3297]

Why try so hard for illegals whereas we (illiterate South Africans) are jobless. Why pick up zimbabweans and Malawians from the side of the kerb. Workers demarcate avenues according to nationality. I've seen casual employers skip the avenues with South Africans and go to the ones with the foreigners. Just visit Edenvale Avenues and c for yourselves.

[@aeiou2]

​@@cloudstrife8791then go home sir, be a hard worker there.

[@motsamaiphoka5311]

Where is department of labour? This is a joke they must be held liable also

[@kambrose1549]

So if I employed someone who gave me fake documents I'd be in trouble? Are ordinary citizens meant to get experts? This should be government job inspectors etc

[@user-ci7co6mo8p]

Unskilled/undocumented workers are not the course of this building imploding. Quality of materials and engineering structures etc errected are the main course.

[@innocentnzuza3749]

These guys are not going to jail in South Africa.

[@5801160052086]

Nobody goes to jail in SA

[@nadiataljaard4383]

Similar incident the Tongaat 2010 building collapse - which initiated the development of the building regulations of 2014.

[@melanievonsteen5852]

They are nit allowed to work...

[@truth-Hurts375]

Imagine the outcry if this was a Black Owned company....Domkop Steenhuisen and Afriforum would have been in the USA by now !!!

[@siphelodakada8397]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@heinrichfourie6454]

Looks like the want to give other people the blame cause the names have started to dissappear from websites and pages.

[@marithatheron8406]

How do you know it is not?

[@heinrichfourie6454]

@@marithatheron8406 They already named companies and they are all white but there names dissapeared from websites and socials and the major involved name also got changed.

[@siphelodakada8397]

@@marithatheron8406 who else hire cheap labour for harvesting season in farms and call police on them when it’s time to pay them and cry foul when they are murdered in farms does that ring a bell?

[@MKL_D]

I knew it.

[@ElethuDuna]

Is there an interview by the owners and contractors of the building? I need to see that.

[@sylviahammond4876]

Iman, Please explore the concept of "employee" and who would be the "employer"? There is a potential loophole here - especially in the construction sector where there are "labour-only" suppliers & use of roadside work-seekers.

[@shanaazcloete8531]

South Africans from the area had spoken up about handing in CV's on this construction site, they were overlooked for people on the road side. This company must be made an example of.

[@user-eb7wv5wt3j]

This has been the case since The days of Jan Van Riebeeck

[@lufunomonyaivendaqueen7793]

What was the quality of the material used?

[@MikeB-3791]

legislation? not one word about building inspection.

[@amandamatthee4176]

So sad and so complex My prayers goes to all the families

[@VeryBerry481]

Where is the EFF in this? Why has there been NO WORD from the construction company, the owners of the project or anyone from that front?!!! This is insane and so unfortunate.

[@maiku247]

wouldn't be surprised to hear that the 'employers' have skipped the country by now....

[@VeryBerry481]

For clarity, does undocumented employees mean not registered with Department of Labour or does it mean employees don't have valid visa/permit to be legally in the country? Asking for a friend.

[@kevin4615]

Who has time to investigate an ID for validity? Home Affairs is dysfunctional. I just need a trench dug, yesterday, for the client only willing to pay peanuts. You live in LA LA Land if you think a client will pay for me to stand in the queues at Home Affairs for 3 days, or hire a wheelbarrow engineer registered with the myriad of cash-grabbing so-called regulators.

[@clarke7230]

Claim?

[@sallynel4647]

Well many use fake permits...when a person goes to apply for work why sont they verify thier permits thats just where the problem is.

[@gif623]

So government is to blame

[@leoniea138]

Some are fooked

[@thembibaardman538]

I am lost a bit here. Being illegally in a country is a crime, hence people get ARRESTED. Now if a criminal should get injured where he should not be (trespassing for example,) do they get treated as if they did not commit an offence? UIF, compensation etc..

[@lesleycrous9776]

Coverment is the problem they dont do there work and everything takes for ever and everyone is just coming into our country its there and the employer fault

[@user-mq3ib1zq6g]

Legal is not lawful. Law is laid down and established, legal gets changed at the whim of a pen. You cannot say lawful when talking legal.

[@marlenecastle8511]

@use. Amen 🙏 you get to live another day 🙏 😂😂😂

[@siphelodakada8397]

Did you just say some wow😂

[@user-yq3gf2ig8j]

imaan, can you please interview the DA they are so qiete abwt this, is it bcz the developer is white

[@Bluecollarjoe6B9]

No they are not, they came out in front of the story, unlike Ramaphosa who is no where to be seen. Helen Zille addressed the media about the developers on day 1

[@aeiou2]

Exactly

[@user-eb7wv5wt3j]

@@Bluecollarjoe6B9 Nooo!! leave white man please :)) Hands off white man hands off, go and report on pit toilets :))

[@benjaminsolomon3918]

Documented ,unskilled, poor workman ship, should not b at stake now , the big question and concentration is the tender process, were contractors without propper scrutiny get the contracts and apply the subcontractor structure ho even them dont b in scrutiny, just rock up employe hoever they can pick up on street coners .The one recieved ,properly ore improper that tender get the subcontractor for as little as they can and that subcontractor do cut corners too get some proper financial gain out of contract ,it should stopped longtime ago by oure poor tender loving government officials for enrichment to their cronies 4 kick backs .

[@siyabongamviko8872]

Why can't both be properly looked at?

[@benjaminsolomon3918]

@@siyabongamviko8872 that also aa long as it's not just about the labour and from where it comes ,yes it is the workers that lost everything, those ho lost their lives

[@purpleraintrendz2654]

why no mention of Swanepoel - the owner???? If this was MaMkhize or Sodi, we would be knowing about their houses, cars they drive, Sars status etc. Why Swanepoel so protected????????Why is he not on cameras talking to the nation? Next we will hear, just like Markus Jooste, that he died! Hayiman, treat all of us equally! Just like Steinhoff 'accounting irregularity' there's gonna be a 'accounting irregularity' - like term used to pardon the Swanepoel- i bet!

[@KungobabaloTyhileka]

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.

[@KungobabaloTyhileka]

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”.

[@user-lv6nz1zd3n]

TB Joshua built that building 😂😂😂

[@lorriemamoet9406]

There are so many Malawian workers in the country mainly because they are reliable workers and do not use alcohol and pitch up at work everyday unlike some locals. If they have false documents it is difficult for employers to confirm.

[@cloudstrife8791]

If taxis strikes are going foreigners use bicycles or bus no idea why locals cant then they scream cheap labour and racist employers but in bank balance foreigners are clearly sitting in $ pitching in.

[@Sakhephi]

Who was working the jobs Malawians are doing before?

[@aeiou2]

Reliable = exploitation, locals refuse to be exploited. It took this collapse to expose the constant enslavement of Africans that white people love to perpetuate.

[@zodwangobese468]

The is a lot scandals going around that you not aware of did you know that they selling the jobs and we as South African we look like we lazy all sort and remember this if I do wrong I always get caught where can you find our African Brothers or sisters without a fingerpring

[@aviweyantolo5023]

Nonsense you just enjoy paying them 1 thousand bacuse locals would never accept that !

[@aphiwemagaya3279]

Welcome to the cANCer country. Now, they aren't insured in anyway!

[@MKMackintosh-wz4ug]

The problem with the south african construction industry is not illegal immigrates it is a racial problem. Educated black graduate civil engineers and construction managers get sidelined for less educated people who fit a certain race. The industry needs to be better regulated so that only those with the qualifications and skills get the jobs regardless of what skin colour they are.

[@Chunky_Schoomer]

contractors told me that many times informal peace job workers were the best welders and tilers for the job

[@conqueringlion770]

Blame the ANC Home Affairs, not the workers...

[@shanaazcloete8531]

This is what the Patriotic Alliance is more than ready to deal with. Gayton can go full force on these type of companies. Give them hell Gayton, because they protected by the DA and the media. Look at this interviewer making excuses.

[@user-md4op6ko3y]

you're so ignorant Gayton talks the biggest load of KAK

[@marithatheron8406]

I hope the government do something about it. I worked a short period of time for a contractor and these people are abused, assualted, forced to work rediculious hours and they can not do anything about it. And most of them are esxcelent and skilled workers. The company is not registered with NHBRC, do not submit UIF and PAYE reports although it is deducted. And you can not report it

[@Kangaroo46222]

We tired or makwerekwere

[@gertvanniekerk46]

WHO, Was Is the 'Contractors and Companies' involved NAMES PLEASE. What a tragic Human Disaster. My Hartfelt condolences to the Families and Friends

[@callieniemann2280]

Whole town that was engulfed in a mud slide when a keeper dam broke. Somewhere in northern cape province?