Working conditions at the Department of Social Development (DSD) in Joza are still dire as employees have been moved out of the building following complaints of appalling working conditions.
Working conditions at the Department of Social Development (DSD) in Joza are still dire as employees have been moved out of the building following complaints of appalling working conditions.
The building’s entire staff were moved from the department’s Joza branch on Tuesday to the DSD area office on the corner of African and Hill Street.
“The move was chaotic,” says an anonymous employee from the DSD, “we only got to start working by half past 12 and we’ve been crammed into tiny offices.”
Forced to abandon their work equipment at the now unoccupied building, the staff now has to make do without.
The unnamed employee reports that the area offi ce is also without cleaning services. The magnifi cent blue Joza building is now empty and under lock and key with a sign on the front door directing visitors to the area office.
A peek through the vacant building’s windows reveals workstations kitted out with expensive furniture and computer equipment that has been left unused.
Employees from the department say the building has been without a cleaning or maintenance service for most of the year and working conditions have dropped to dangerously unsanitary levels both inside and outside.
The DSD area office management were unavailable for comment, however the DSD’s provincial bureau issued a response to Grocott’s Mail stating that cleaning services have been provided for all their district offi ces except for those in Cacadu, which they say have been without cleaning services since the beginning of July.
The reasons for this are unknown but the DSD say they are investigating the matter and will send an inspector to assess the working conditions of the Cacadu District offices.
