News24 reports that a witness broke down during the second part of the public inquiry into the 2018 blast that killed eight people at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) plant in Macassar, which kicked off on Tuesday.

Edmunt Daniels, one of the team leaders at the mixing facilities who worked with supervisor Nico Samuels, told the inquiry that Samuels would never have done anything to jeopardise the company or anyone's safety. Samuels died in the explosion. His name came up several times in the inquiry when previous witnesses testified that he had used his private vehicle to transport explosives. Daniels broke down on Tuesday when he testified about Samuels' work ethic and character. Indicating that they wanted to get to the bottom of what happened that day, the legal representatives for Denel told Daniels they understood how hard the process had been for him and the families. Another witness, Vershan Govender, who was the acting head of the site, testified that nothing out of the ordinary happened on the day the explosion occurred. "Everything was running well. There were no problems at the time," he said. Govender noted that different products were made at the facilities and that he was unable to say what was being produced at the time of the explosion. The inquiry is being conducted by the Department of Employment and Labour and the first session was held in May, when 13 witnesses were cross-examined. Over the next few days, 17 witnesses are lined up to give evidence.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marvin Charles at News24

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