Nearly a yr in the past, the collapse of a George house constructing shocked the nation. However, based on a GroundUp report, survivors and family of the deceased have but to obtain any payout from the Compensation Fund.
What occurred to survivors of the George constructing collapse?
On 6 Might 2024, a five-storey house block collapsed in George within the Western Cape. 34 employees have been killed. 26 survived however most of them have been left with accidents.
Amongst the injured are two Mozambican employees, Ivaldo Macomo and Virgilio Sitoe, who spoke to GroundUp about their life after the collapse. Macomo, who misplaced a leg within the collapse, is unlikely to work once more. Though Sitoe has completed his medical therapy, he experiences ache from nerve harm to his toes and has struggled to search out work after the George constructing collapse.
What’s the Compensation Fund?
The Compensation for Occupational Accidents and Illnesses Act makes provision for a Compensation Fund. This finance entity ought to cowl the medical prices of injured employees. It must also present earnings assist to these completely disabled and the households of the deceased. It covers each South African employees and immigrants who’ve labored within the nation longer than a yr.
Nonetheless, the Compensation Fund has been dogged with fraud and poor audit outcomes. This implies it takes months for claims to be paid and a few are by no means paid in any respect.
No compensation paid to George constructing collapse survivors
No less than 11 of the George constructing survivors submitted claims to the Compensation Fund. A few of them have had their medical bills coated from the Fund however GroundUp stories that not one of the survivors or the households of the lifeless have acquired compensation payouts.
Macomo was informed by his physician that his declare had been authorised. Nonetheless, he hasn’t acquired any payout. The identical is true of the households of those that died. Little one Kayuni, the husband of cleaner Tiwonge Muhango who died on the positioning, has not acquired any compensation.
In accordance with GroupUp, the Division of Labour has refused to remark whereas the compensation payout is ongoing.
In January, the Western Cape Authorities’s investigation into the George constructing collapse was given to the South African Police Service. In March, a separate Nationwide Residence Builders Registration Council probe into the incident discovered that there had been gross negligence on the a part of the development firm. On the time, Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane acknowledged: “We’ll refer the report back to our legislation enforcement businesses for investigation and doable felony prices.”
Will the Compensation Fund pay out compensation any time quickly?
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