By Luvuyo Sizani – DA Councillor – Caucus Leader Makana
Makhanda in the Makana Municipality was dealt another blow this week, this time around by the Department of Employment and Labour.
The municipality was served with two non-compliance certificates on 5 November 2024 for its buildings that house the departments of Infrastructure and Technical Services and the Traffic department.
Inspectors from the Department of Employment and Labour found that these buildings do not comply with the required regulations to accommodate people.
The Department of Employment and Labour in South Africa can close buildings under the “Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act: Section 30: Allows labour inspectors to issue prohibition notices to close buildings that they deem unsafe.
These closures came hot on the heels of a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) raid on the beleaguered municipality last week.
The closure of these buildings came as no surprise to the Democratic Alliance in Makhanda, as we believe that this was long overdue. We have repeatedly raised the matter in the Social Development Portfolio Committee, along with union members and municipal employees. These are NOT the only buildings that are a risk to employees.
As the Democratic Alliance we welcome the steps taken by the Department of Employment and Labour to ensure that safety of the employees is prioritised.
However, the matter must not end there.
The Democratic Alliance will immediately take the following steps:
Firstly, we will approach the municipal manager to urgently find alternative and appropriate premises for both departments, so that our residents are inconvenienced as little as possible.
Secondly, we will bring the matter of other non-compliant buildings, such as the Local Economic Development building, to the attention of the Department of Employment and Labour for their assessment.
In a caring DA government, we would ensure the safety of our employees by accommodating them in buildings which comply with labour law, and we would ensure that our residents, who have endured too much municipal incompetence already, are catered for by municipal departments at all times.
