No assistance for more than eight hours at Labour centre

The Spokesperson for the Department of Labour, Lerato Makomane, says employees who treat clients unfairly should be reported to the manager, or to the provincial offices in Schoeman Street. This after a video was taken at the Seshego Labour Centre showing elderly people sitting on rocks, exhausted from waiting in long queues. The woman who took the video claims that employees at the centre had them wait from early morning until late afternoon with no assistance.
“We had been waiting since 07:00, until past 15:00 and no one has been helped yet. Some people collapsed because they hadn’t eaten anything since their arrival. When we requested help, we were told the employees had gone for lunch and there weren’t enough people inside to assist us,” she said.
In the video, the woman walks into the office and asks the officials to speak to the manager, only to be told he wasn’t in.
Makomane told the Polokwane Observer that the elderly and pregnant women take preference as they cannot be expected to stand in long cues. “In cases where the manager is away for a long period, he/she must delegate their responsibilities to an official present at the office. People are encouraged to take down the names of officials who mistreat them, to assist the department in conducting thorough investigations. The department prides itself in delivering effective and efficient services during this period and there will be zero tolerance for poor service delivery,” she said.
Makomane said the reason for long queues is because of mass retrenchments due to Covid-19 and as a result, people are frequenting their offices in large numbers. “We urge them to utilise our online services. Another reason for the long queues in Seshego is that the offices were closed due to a positive Covid-19 case. However, the office is fully operational now,” Mokomane concluded.