Dissatisfied employees at the Regional Land Claims Commission in the city resorted to a lunchtime picket outside the premises in Biccard Street on Friday claiming that they experience overcrowding after their offices in Schoeman Street caught fire recently.
A total of 64 employees had to be moved from the damaged Schoeman Street offices to those in Biccard Street for safety purposes. According to one of the affected officials, the offices in Schoeman Street caught fire two times but the management does not want to lease new offices for employees. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised informed Polokwane Observer that they were promised new premises about ten years ago but there is no progress.
“We experience overcrowding in offices in Biccard Street and some of the officials are forced to carry out their duties on passages. We work with a lot of paper hence we are worried about people’s land claims documents and our safety. We are always sent from pillar to post when we inquire about the new offices so we decided to down tools until our demands are met. Land claims issues are now on hold because we can’t continue to work like this,” an irate source explained.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) representative, Josias Ramathibane stressed a need for a swift positive response from departmental management as he mentioned that land claim matters were being severely affected. He further commented that this might fuel anger in communities because their issues are not being dealt with. He added that officials demand new offices and have threatened to continue with lunchtime protests until their pleas are heard.
Departmental Spokesperson Nicholas Magada confirmed that officials from the Regional Land Claims Commission in Limpopo based at 96 Schoeman Street have moved to 61 Biccard Street due to safety concerns after the office building they were occupying caught fire which left the officials no longer feeling safe. This matter has been escalated to the executive management of the department in the national office, he explained. Magada further indicated that the department has already received commitment from the Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure that the office accommodation is prioritised and that they are working hard to find suitable office space for the affected 64 officials. He added that it was the responsibility of Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure to secure office space.
According to him, the building caught fire on 6 January but no documents were destroyed. He went on to highlight that an overheated air conditioner was cited as the cause of the fire but that still needed to be confirmed by experts.
Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za
