The second round of the public hearings into the incident which killed 13 employees at Paarl Print on 17 April 2009, leaving scores of other employees injured will resume on Monday, 12 April until Friday, 16 April 2010.
The first round of hearings which was held from 1 to 12 March was not sufficient to get to the bottom of the case, according to the presiding officer, Tibor Szana.
Szana added that during the first hearings, new names which were not part of the initial witness list kept on coming up and the department had to subpoena these individuals to appear before this upcoming enquiry. “This will enable us to test all the facts and evidence at our disposal so as to make informed recommendations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions.” Szana said.
The first leg of this inquiry saw fire forensic experts, building engineers and architects giving evidence from how the fire started to how the building was designed. Current and ex-employees of Paarl Print also had an opportunity to explain what exactly happened on the day of the fire.
This public hearing is held in terms of Section 32 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act: 85 of 1993 and all interested parties are welcome.
The details of the next enquiry are as follows:
Date: 12 to 16 April 2010
Time: 09h00 to 16h00
Venue: Boland Park, Langenhoven Street, Paarl
Enquiries:
Temba Gubula
Cell: 078 735 8809
Page Boikanyo
Cell: 082 809 3195
Issued by: Department of Labour
8 April 2010
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za/)
