The transport department has apparently suggested that a deceased fitness test recruit was overweight and abused alcohol.
|||Pietermaritzburg - A man who died after taking part in a KwaZulu-Natal recruitment fitness test regularly consumed alcohol, an inquiry into the matter heard on Tuesday.
This was the submission of Ravenda Padayachee, for the transport department.
He said a post-mortem on Lindokuhle Kunene found he had a liver that was fatty, hard and congested.
Padayachee said a doctor would testify that those were signs of alcohol abuse.
The commission, sitting in Pietermaritzburg, was appointed by KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize earlier this year.
Its brief is to probe the deaths of eight people who took part in a 4km run at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg in December.
This formed part of a fitness test for Road Traffic Inspectorate job applicants.
More than 34 000 people qualified to apply for the 90 advertised trainee posts. A total of 15 600 applicants attended a fitness test on December 27 and a similar number on December 28.
Padayachee told the commission that two of Kunene's friends revealed in statements that they had all consumed alcohol every week.
Padayachee said statements from Thulani Njoko and Vusimuzi Mkhaliphi, Kunene's friends, stated that he had consumed alcohol at a party before participating in the fitness test.
Kunene's sister Mpumelelo, said she did not know that her brother drank alcohol every week.
Padayachee told the commission that Kunene weighed more than 100kg.
Mpumelelo said her brother was fat, but fit.
Mpumelelo broke down and cried during the cross-examination.
The hearing continues. - Sapa