Durban - Verbal agreements, incompetent and unqualified staff, a lack of documentation, and a failure to abide by the law all plagued the construction of the Tongaat Mall, a commission of inquiry heard on Tuesday.
This emerged from questioning of controversial Durban businessman Jay Singh by labour department occupational health and safety manager Phumudzo Maphaha, who chairs the inquiry into the mall's collapse on 19 November 2013, that killed two people and injured 29.
Singh, who owns Gralio Precast which was building the mall, admitted that since 2003 he had never registered a single building site with the labour department, as required by law.