Health department ditches ‘death trap’ HQ building

Health department spokesperson Popo Maja confirmed the move to new premises at the corner Voortrekker and Roger Dyson roads, Pretoria.

Department of public works and infrastructure spokesperson Thami Mchunu said all internal processes had been met to procure the required accommodation at no cost.

However, rent would cost R116sq/m for offices and R950 per parking bay a month.

Earlier this year, the health department employees protested outside the department of public works’ offices in Madiba Street, calling for action over Civitas building.

The protesters, affiliated to the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), said the department was wasting R1.2-billion on renting the building.

Mchunu said: “The health department issued the needs that alternative accommodation be procured, as the current accommodation (Civitas building) has health and safety challenges. The needs entails 28 397.09m² of office space with 474 parking bays.”

He said the department was still in the process of finalising the rectification of all compliance issues pertaining to the Civitas building after it had been vacated.

“We will then consider a new tenant for the building, aligned to the Tshwane inner city regeneration programme.”

Operations at the health department building were intermittently disrupted during the 2018/19 financial year as employees protested what they called an “unsafe” building.

Employees would gather in the foyer daily for three hours before clocking off work.

Employees raised safety and health concerns about the building as it constantly suffered flooding during heavy rains due to multiple cracks and the roof had allegedly collapsed on an employee while sitting at her desk.

In 2019, around R79.4-million was budgeted to be spent to renovate the “unsafe” health building.

The scope of the works included refurbishment of the waterproofing and skylight, mechanical, electrical and general building works.

While in the same year the building was declared safe for occupation by the Tshwane emergency services.

“We found that the building meets minimum fire safety requirements,” said Tshwane emergency service spokesperson Charles Mabaso.

“We looked at escape doors, whether fire extinguishers were working and not expired, fire suppression systems and the likes.”