Deeds office struggles highlight government neglect

For more than a week, workers at the Deeds Office in Johannesburg refused to work in a protest over unsafe working conditions – and all their bosses did was order them to get back to their desks or face a “no work, no pay” situation.

After The Citizen exposed the plight of the employees on Monday, someone in the department of rural affairs and land reform – which is responsible for the Deeds Office – woke up to reality.

And decided to take action.

Whether that was out of genuine concern for those forced to work in an unsafe building in the Joburg CBD, or they didn’t like us shining the light on them is a matter for debate.

However, this is just the latest example in government workers having to work in appalling office conditions.

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While many have little sympathy for our civil servants, they are performing a vital job – in this case processing more than 5 000 property transfers a month – and they deserve humane treatment.

Now, the department of public works has been ordered to find alternative accommodation for the office.

But why did things get so bad?

A simple answer: incompetence or corruption – or both – somewhere along the line.