Labour Dept says owners of collapsed George apartment complex evading inspectors

CAPE TOWN - The Department of Labour says the owners of the five-storey apartment complex that collapsed in George are evading labour inspectors. 
 
The 42-unit property was included in the portfolio of the Neo Trend Group, a property developer based in the Southern Cape. 

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The building crashed on Monday while 81 construction workers were on site, and 44 are still trapped in the rubble, while one of the victims of the collapse died in hospital, bringing the death count to nine.

While conducting preliminary investigations into the fatal collapse, labour officials noticed a discrepancy in the tally of artisans on site.

Initially, building records reflected 75 construction workers. The numbers were revised to include six more names when four sub-contractors offered up registers of artisans on duty on Monday afternoon.

Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said securing this crucial detail was only the beginning.

“What we did was secure the records because it’s part of our protocol to ensure that in a site like this, no records must disappear. When we were reconciling the numbers with the records we have, we came to the 81 people [who] were on this site.”

In a statement, the principal contractor on the project, Liatel, said it was cooperating with authorities.

But their client, Neo Trend Group Ice Projects appeared to have gone to ground.

“We do not know where they are,” said Nxesi.

The company has already wiped its online footprint, pulling its website and all social media pages, including business profiles on LinkedIn.