The Tongaat Mall engineer dismissed suggestions that he was "grossly negligent" by allowing deviations from his drawings, the inquiry into the collapse of the mall, in which two people were killed, heard on Thursday.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial spokesman Nhlanhla Khumalo said Dr Andre Ballack argued that he had no reason to doubt the integrity of the contractor, who assured him that the project was proceeding as per specifications until the fatal day.
Ballack testified during his cross-examination that the contractor, Jay Singh, the owner of Gralio Precast, failed on several occasions to furnish him with test cube results to determine the strength of the concrete.
He told the commission that he relied on the contractor's word to authorise the stripping.
Gralio Precast is the developing company behind the construction of the mall.
He said it was not his function solely to look at samples of the building elements, but also the responsibility of the contractor to verify, said Khumalo.
"I took the engineering project and relied on trust. I had no reason not to trust what I was told by the contractor," Ballack said.
The commission's presiding officer Phumudzo Maphaha told Ballack that engineering did not work on trust but on figures and verification of facts.
Saleem Khan for Singh said that according to instruction, Ballack had never on a single occasion requested cube tests on concrete strength.
Ballack responded that although the requests were never recorded in minutes, these requests were made on site where most of the meetings were held.
"With hindsight a piece of paper requesting such results and acknowledging their receipt will have been better."
The inquiry will resume on Friday with further cross-examination of Ballack in Tongaat's local municipal offices.
The commission of inquiry was appointed following the structural collapse of the mall on November 19 last year. It claimed the lives of two people and injured 29 others.
Khumalo said the inquiry was expected to complete its work in the first quarter of 2015.
'I wasn't grossly negligent': Tongaat Mall engineer
The Tongaat Mall engineer dismissed suggestions that he was "grossly negligent" by allowing deviations from his drawings, the inquiry into the collapse of the mall, in which two people were killed, heard on Thursday.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial spokesman Nhlanhla Khumalo said Dr Andre Ballack argued that he had no reason to doubt the integrity of the contractor, who assured him that the project was proceeding as per specifications until the fatal day.
Ballack testified during his cross-examination that the contractor, Jay Singh, the owner of Gralio Precast, failed on several occasions to furnish him with test cube results to determine the strength of the concrete.
He told the commission that he relied on the contractor's word to authorise the stripping.
Gralio Precast is the developing company behind the construction of the mall.
He said it was not his function solely to look at samples of the building elements, but also the responsibility of the contractor to verify, said Khumalo.
"I took the engineering project and relied on trust. I had no reason not to trust what I was told by the contractor," Ballack said.
The commission's presiding officer Phumudzo Maphaha told Ballack that engineering did not work on trust but on figures and verification of facts.
Saleem Khan for Singh said that according to instruction, Ballack had never on a single occasion requested cube tests on concrete strength.
Ballack responded that although the requests were never recorded in minutes, these requests were made on site where most of the meetings were held.
"With hindsight a piece of paper requesting such results and acknowledging their receipt will have been better."
The inquiry will resume on Friday with further cross-examination of Ballack in Tongaat's local municipal offices.
The commission of inquiry was appointed following the structural collapse of the mall on November 19 last year. It claimed the lives of two people and injured 29 others.
Khumalo said the inquiry was expected to complete its work in the first quarter of 2015.
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