The inquiry into the collapse of a bridge over the M1 was on Wednesday postponed for the second time – and conflicting reasons for the delay were given by officials.

Labour Department spokesperson Mokgadi Pela told the media that the commission had made progress in the inquiry‚ but it had only received “extensive” reports from Murray & Roberts and Form-Scaff.

 Other companies that were required to submit their reports by March 29 only did so on April 15.

“This posed challenges for us‚ in terms of having to go through those reports‚ apply our minds and make sure we are happy with them‚” Pela said.

Pela said some of the companies‚ whom he did not want to mention‚ submitted statements instead of submitting reports.

The inquiry has now been set down for two weeks from July 7‚ and 20 witnesses are expected to give evidence‚ Pela said.

“We want to get to the bottom of the matter. We want to know what happened‚ what caused the accident. We want to end a repeat of the accident. If there is any negligence‚ we will not hesitate to recommend prosecution.”

Siyabonga Genu of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA)‚ however‚ said the reason he got from the Department of Labour for the postponement was that there was no person to record Wednesday’s session.

“There are no experts’ reports that we are aware of that have resulted in the postponement of the inquiry.”

He said the JDA was not required to submit a report and had only submitted a statement to the department as per its requirement.

“We are frustrated. We want to get on with the inquiry so that we can get done…We are disappointed‚” Genu said.

Two people died and 19 others were injured when a temporary pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the M1 freeway north of Johannesburg collapsed in October last year.