Four people were rescued on Saturday after a building under renovation collapsed in Union Lane, Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department has confirmed.
The department said all four victims received medical attention following their rescue from the scene. “The department wishes all who are affected a speedy recovery,” it stated.
Disaster management teams were dispatched to the site after the provincial Disaster Management Centre was alerted to the incident. The public has been advised to avoid the affected area while emergency operations continue.
The collapse comes just days after the second anniversary of the George building disaster, which claimed 34 lives on 6 May 2024. Two years on, families of the victims are still awaiting answers about who will be held accountable for the deaths of their loved ones. While investigations have concluded, pointing to systematic failures across multiple levels of oversight and non-compliance with regulatory standards, no criminal charges have yet been laid.
South Africa has experienced a series of deadly building collapses in recent months. In March, nine construction workers died when a warehouse collapsed in Ormonde, south of Johannesburg. Investigations revealed the structure was illegally erected and bypassed required approvals and development procedures.
ALSO READ: Demands for answers on George building collapse investigation
In Phoenix, north of Durban, two construction workers were killed in March 2025 when a retaining wall under construction collapsed at a residential property. And in December last year, four men died when a temple collapsed in Verulam, Durban. The building reportedly had no approved building plans for the four-story extension.
The Council for the Built Environment has attributed many of these tragedies to shortcuts and law-breaking within the construction sector. Official investigations into the George collapse found irregular status upliftment, late enrolment, inspection lapses, material quality issues and safety violations.
The Ormonde incident was described by authorities as the third building collapse in three months, with investigators examining whether negligence or misconduct played a role.
Parliament has described the George collapse as “an anatomy of a failed system”, citing regulatory fragmentation, siloed government operations and weak monitoring mechanisms.
ALSO READ: George building collapse ‘entirely preventable’, investigation finds
