Officials went to wrong address, a coffee shop — lawyer

Developers of the construction site where the building collapsed in George have seemingly vanished as public pressure for answers mounts, amid allegations of poor workmanship at the site.

Carel Swanepoel, owner of Pacific Breeze Trading 91, a subsidiary of Neo Trend Group, and contractor Theunis Kruger, the owner of Liatel Developments, have taken down their company pages from the internet, while estate agent Ronel van der Walt, who was advertising the luxury apartments under construction, claimed she did not know where they were.

The employment and labour department said it would take legal action against the owners after its attempts to subpoena them were ignored.

Pacific Breeze bought the 1,220sq/m plot of land for about R3m in August 2020, and in November of the same year Swanepoel applied to have it rezoned to build a three-storey apartment block.

However, the building’s size was later increased to a four-storey structure with additional parking for 66 cars and a yard.

The plan was approved two months later by town planner Jan Vrolijk and senior director of urban planning Clinton Petersen.

In March, two months later, Vrolijk added a fifth floor at the request of the developer.

Employment and labour department officials visited the site on Thursday,  where rescue operations were still under way. 

Chief inspector David Esau said: “The day we arrived, we tried to make contact with the client, who is the owner of these premises.

“We went to their address on our system and it was locked.”

Swanepoel’s lawyer, Hanno Brummer of Herbie Oosthuizen Attorneys, said it was not true that his client had gone to ground.

“The officials went to a wrong place, a coffee shop, which is in the same street as my client’s address,” Brummer said.

“An official by the name of Nonhle left her business card behind and we have been trying to get hold of her with no luck. We will co-operate with the department.”