Government employees work in dilapidated building

MBOMBELA – Employees of the health and social development departments have had enough of the government’s empty promises.

Based in a dilapidated building in Anderson Street, they have been working in this uninhabitable structure for months. Two departments’ employees have already been relocated in the name of safety.

Regardless of promises, the building has still not been repaired.

Lowvelder has been reporting on the dire state of the offices since 2013.

In January this year, the department of economic development evacuated its staff, followed by the relocation of the Mpumalanga Liquor Authority to Nel Street.

This publication questioned what the health department planned to do about the fact that its employees were working in an unsafe building. Mr Dumisani Malamule, spokesman for health, said maintenance would be done by March 31. This would have included fixing lifts, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment.

According to Ms Maria Hlabane, an employee working in the building, this never happened. On Monday she said it was so unsafe that they feared that the building would cave in.

Mr Ronnie Masilela, spokesman for public works, roads and transport, said the offices inhabited by government employees were located in a wing of the building considered safer than the rest of the structure. The department made another promise that the building would be restored. According to Masilela, a contractor had been appointed to do this. The site was handed over on Tuesday and the improvement project will consist of two phases.

“The first will cover, among others, the revamping of the entrance including toilets, lifts, and offices,” he said. A second phase is also in the pipeline, but will only be prioritised in the next financial year.