Mohloai Mpesi
THE destruction visited upon Maseru Mall when a freak hailstorm wreaked havoc there a fortnight ago, was “an act of God” and “a disaster outside human control”.
This is according to Maseru Mall Centre Manager, Nkala Motlalane, in an interview with the Lesotho Times this week.
He spoke amid claims that the mall was not properly maintained and management had violated occupational health and safety standards contributing to the disaster.
The mall is now partly operational while repairs are being done on other parts.
But Mr Motlalane insists that the multimillion maloti mall is regularly maintained, to ensure that its main structure are in good shape. Negligence therefore played no part in its damage.
The mall was severely damaged last week by a freak hailstorm. Businesses operating from the mall were compelled to close shop pending repairs. All the shops in the mall have been directed by management to shut down their businesses temporarily to create room for repairs.
Mr Motlalane stressed there was adequate insurance in place to cover repair costs and bring the mall back to full functionality.
“We have adequate insurance in place for natural disasters etc. this was an act of God outside human control. The centre was constructed using competent professional teams and the roofing has recently been through a revamp,” Mr Motlalane said.
“It is regularly maintained but as was the case with recent storms in South Africa and other parts of the world, these natural disasters do occur from time to time and nothing can be done to halt their devastations.
“This was an unfortunate act of God and not due to the structural integrity of the building.”
According to their assessment, all damage resulted from the severity of the hailstorm, Mr Motlalane said.
“It was this very severe down pour in a very short space of time, causing a build-up of water on the roof area. This is the same phenomenon experienced two weekends ago at Somerset Mall in the Western Cape,” Mr Motlalane said.
Mr Motlalane said they could not immediately quantify the value of the damage caused to the mall. Judging from the damage, it should however run into millions.
“Our professional team and insurance are still busy with the assessment,” Mr Motlalane said.
He said most affected areas were especially where the water seeped through insulation ceiling sheets.
“Stores are still busy with their internal assessments to determine the extent of the damage.”
A Safety Health and Environmental Officer, Tṧitso Mokhachane, who was on scene on the fateful day, had claimed that the damage was an indication that the mall was not monitored and properly maintained.
“What I have just seen here is embarrassing. First, when I got here, I realised there were falling objects. There is water everywhere. It is slippery and people come in and out as they please. No one is in control of them. There is no health and safety officer in here,” Mr Mokhachane said.
“The mall is supposed to have a department of health and safety who monitors the weather to check the forecast. Their mandate is do a daily hazard analysis.
“They must assess the status of the building often and check with the engineers so that if there is any natural disaster, there should be an emergency preparedness plan. This found them off-guard, there is no assembly point, it is just every man for himself.”
Maseru Mall was opened in 2013. The mall houses different shopping tenants like Game, Checkers and Shoprite and many others. It also has tenants like giant telecommunication companies Vodacom Lesotho and Econet, commercial banks, restaurants, fashion, and beauty outlets etc.
The mall has numerous shareholders including Public Officers Defined Contributions Pension Fund (PODCPF) which owns the majority shares of 66 percent, having invested over M100 million in the mall. The PODCPF referred this paper to mall management for comment.
Advocate Ithabeleng Phamotse, of Public Officers Defined Contribution Pensioners Association (PODCPA) said her association had not discussed the disaster at the mall.
However, Adv Phamotse said should they learn that “recklessness” from mall management played a part in the damage, they would pursue the matter “to establish who was sleeping on the job”.
