Ivaldo Macamo lost his leg when the George Building collapsed. He is still waiting for compensation

Ivaldo Macamo lost his leg when a building under construction collapsed in George in May 2024. Photo: Daniel Steyn

In George, 34 people were killed in May when a four-storey building, still under construction, collapsed. 28 people survived.
Most survivors are not South African and many do not have valid papers allowing them to work in the country, making access to compensation difficult.
None of the families we spoke to have received any compensation from the Ministry of Labor.
Survivors and relatives of the victims say they are traumatized. Only a few have received guidance.

Ivaldo Macamo will struggle to find work again. In May he lost his leg in a building collapse in George, which shocked the nation. Macamo is a plasterer from Mozambique with over ten years of experience and now spends most of his time at home in an informal settlement in Thembalethu, George. When he wants to go outside, he has to navigate muddy, uneven paths with crutches.

Macamo is one of 28 survivors. Thirty-four people died when the four-story apartment building they were building collapsed on May 6. The cause of the collapse is still unknown and the South African Police Service, the Western Cape Government and the Department of Labor and Employment are still investigating.

GroundUp met Macamo and his friend Virgilio Sitoe at Macamo’s home in Thembalethu last week. Both have a wife and small children who live with them. Macamo and Sitoe were trapped in the rubble of the building for more than 48 hours before they were rescued. Sitoe’s feet were crushed and would have been amputated at George Hospital had not a senior doctor intervened at the last minute.

Sitoe said he has tried to work again. But after two days the pain in his feet and back was unbearable and he had to go home.

None of the surviving relatives or relatives of the deceased that GroundUp spoke to have received any benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund or the Compensation Fund. The subcontractors who employed the workers were of little help in navigating a slow, bureaucratic process with the Department of Employment and Labor.

Most survivors are not South African, which presents a host of challenges. Some worked without valid papers and are not legally allowed to work. It is unlikely that they will receive compensation.

Last week, one of the survivors, a man from Malawi who wished to remain anonymous, was arrested when he went to the police station in Thembalethu to have his documents authenticated for his UIF application. He was released a few hours later after the intervention of the local captain, a source with knowledge of the matter told GroundUp.

Several survivors who do not have valid papers told GroundUp that they are afraid to talk to police about what happened on the day of the collapse because they risk being arrested and deported.

Others have valid papers, but applying for compensation is a difficult process. They say Department of Labor staff are unhelpful, and they are sent back and forth between the Department of Health for medical records, their employers for paychecks and contracts, and the Department of Labor.

Most of the victims and survivors were employed by two subcontractors: Bo Shova and Father and Sons. Neither company responded to our requests for comment.

The Municipality of George has raised a fund of R173,000, managed by a non-profit organisation. The money will be distributed among the families, says municipal spokesperson Chantèl Edwards.

Ina Bezuidenhout, a lawyer specialized in working conditions, met the relatives. Bezuidenhout says that the employer usually plays a key role in submitting compensation claims to the Labor Department.

“But in this tragedy, the victims are largely left to fend for themselves, often incurring expenses to visit the various officials just to be informed that additional information is needed, or that the wrong information has been obtained,” Bezuidenhout said at a recent meeting. with survivors.

They hope that once the investigation’s findings are made public, it will become clearer who bears responsibility for the collapse. Legal action to claim damages may then be considered.

Many of the survivors told GroundUp that they have experienced terrifying flashbacks since the building collapsed. Macamo said he has trouble sleeping and is still mourning the deaths of his friends. He said he received a referral form for psychosocial support from the Western Cape Department of Social Development in mid-October.

Elelwani Mawela, who was a health and safety officer at the site, now lives in Limpopo with her family. She described in detail how she spent two months in hospital, undergoing extensive facial surgery.

She remembers being unable to open her eyes for most of her time in the hospital; she was wide awake, but couldn’t see anything. At night she had nightmares and couldn’t sleep.

Mawela says she would benefit from guidance, but she has now left the province so the Western Cape Department of Social Development cannot help her.

Families of survivors

We spoke to some relatives of those who died in the building, who explained the ordeal of having to travel to George at short notice, identify the bodies of their loved ones and organize to have the bodies repatriated for burial.

Local funeral home AVOB provided free coffins and embalming services, but repatriating the bodies cost more than R25,000 each.

Lizzie Ndlovu, niece of Phineas Ndlovu who died in the building collapse, said her uncle’s wife and children living in Zimbabwe now have no source of income.

Ndlovu is a domestic worker in Johannesburg. She is about to give up on getting compensation from the Ministry of Labor. She has already had to travel to George twice: once to retrieve her uncle’s body and another time to access his medical records. She was unable to apply for UIF or Worker’s Compensation.

Blessed Ngere, a pastor and leader of the Zimbabwean community in George, explained how the community mobilized in the days following the collapse to shelter the relatives of the deceased. Although people did not know many of the Zimbabweans working on the site, families opened their doors and raised money to help pay for the costs of transporting the bodies home.

Ngere says that in addition to financial compensation, people also need answers about what happened.

Meanwhile, survivors still stationed in George were supported with food parcels by local organizations such as the Round Table, Rotary Club and Lions Club.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor did not respond to GroundUp’s questions.

Rescue teams battle to find construction workers trapped under the collapsed apartment building in George in May 2024. Archive photo: Daniel Steyn.

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