He was giving evidence as an expert witness at the commission of inquiry into the mall's collapse. Two construction workers were killed and 29 others injured when parts of the building collapsed.
Pretorius said a beam that had insufficient reinforcing steel bars may have led to the collapse. He said the beam had only six steel bars - instead of 19 - as stipulated in the design. The concrete used also appeared to be inconsistent.
He said only one portion of the beam was poured and left to dry for two weeks before the rest was poured. As a result, the two sections did not bond and could not carry the weight of other beams or the concrete slab when form scaffolding was removed.
Pretorius said the beam was the first component to fail when the mall collapsed.
Engineer Rob Young is expected to challenge Pretorius' evidence. He was hired by the mall's contractor, Gralio Precast, to investigate the cause of the collapse.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
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