Labour offices in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga were shut down by their own inspectors after being found to pose a serious health hazard to workers, the Department of Labour said on Thursday.
A notice halting all the activities was issued on Tuesday.
Department spokesperson Zolisa Sigabi said inspectors found that the building had a water leak in the ceiling and that the offices were infested with breeding mosquitoes.
The inspectors also found that the building had a foul smell.
Sigabi said the shutdown happened after numerous attempts were made to alert the Department of Public Works to correct the problems.
”This goes to show that government offices are not immune from labour inspection. We closed the offices of home affairs in the North West earlier this year and there is no way that we can give ourselves special treatment if we don’t comply with our own rules,” said Sigabi.
To ensure service delivery was not hindered, Sigabi said the Nelspruit labour centre had deployed two mobile units to serve the area temporarily and part-time offices were opened in Hazyview and White River.
Neighbouring labour centres are also assisting. — Sapa