The inquiry into Grayston Drive bridge COLLAPSE in South Africa has been put on hold, the Department of Labour has announced.
The inquiry of the Grayston Drive Pedestrian and cyclist structural bridge collapse was scheduled to sit for three days starting 04 May 2016 was called off due to ‘untold’ obstacles faced by the Commission.
Lennie Samuel, the presiding officer of the Grayston Drive Pedestrian and cyclist structural bridge collapse inquiry informed the third sitting that every time the Commission meets it experiences “untold” hurdles.
Samuel said the challenges encountered by the commission on Wednesday were beyond his control. “We have had a series of communication with various stakeholders to the inquiry. We have also made sufficient progress to date. We have now received expert reports from Formscaff and Murray & Roberts. The rest of the parties have submitted statements,” said Samuel.
Two experts from Form scaff had been scheduled to testify before the commission before the inquiry was postponed.
Samuel informed the briefing that a total of 20 witnesses are scheduled to testify before the Inquiry. They include construction firm Murray & Roberts, engineers, the City of Johannesburg, Royal HaskoningDHV, the Johannesburg Development Agency, Formscaff, Engineering Council of South Africa, and the National Union of Mineworkers.
Samuel said that following the challenges encountered by the commission and subsequent failure to sit on Wednesday, the sittings are expected to resume on 07 July 2016 at a venue to be communicated later.
The Inquiry was set up following the collapse of the temporary bridge structure across the M1 near the Grayston Drive off ramp on 14 October 2015. The bridge collapsed onto cars passing underneath. The tragedy claimed the lives of two people and left 19 others with serious injured.
