A war is brewing over the Road Traffic Infringement Agency’s (RTIA) headquarters in Midrand, with the building standing empty for a month.
Management has ordered staff to return to the office on Monday, but the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has demanded the instruction be retracted as they believe the building is unsafe.
The building — located in the New Road Office Park — is leased by the RTIA, which spent millions on the move in July last year. Spokesperson Emmanuel Tshehla confirmed the agency had leased the building for five years at a cost of R52m. In addition, R1.4m was spent on access control, CCTV cameras, facial recognition and fingerprint technology, R140,000 on a sick bay, R4m on cleaning services for three years, R900,000 for an X-ray machine and metal detectors and R200,000 for branding.
But six months into the lease, staff were instructed to work from home from February 1.
Tshehla said inspectors from the City of Joburg and the department of labour had issued the RTIA with contravention notices after finding that partitioning — erected by the agency in the open plan space — had been done without proper permission and authorisation.
In the early hours of January 31, there was a break-in at the offices and a security guard was stabbed. The police were investigating the incident.
Tshehla said RTIA management decided to close the building to allow the police investigation to go ahead at the crime scene.
The incident was also reported to the transport department and deputy transport minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa, who “has assisted to further escalate the matter with law enforcement agencies”.
Tshehla said the building was closed for the investigation and for the repair of damage caused during the robbery. Steps were taken to improve security.
He also said the building would not be completely closed on February 1 and had remained available to staff who needed to be at the office.
Numsa members have called on the agency’s CEO, Matsemela Moloi, to withdraw the return-to-work instruction.
In correspondence seen by TimesLIVE Premium, Numsa’s Enock Manyoni said workers would not be returning to the office “until you have shared with us the findings of the inspection, certificate of occupancy issued by the [city] and all other related certificates of compliance regarding the safety of the building”.
He noted that the RTIA had not closed down after failing the compliance inspection in December, but that the robbery — said to be the reason for the closure — had coincidentally happened on the same day the office closure was ordered.
“Our request was for you to share the findings by the City of Joburg with us, which you have failed to do,” Manyoni said.
“We have been made aware of your instruction to the workers that they all must report to the office on March 3, and this was done despite the alleged findings or closure of the building by the city.
“Forcing employees to work in an office space which has been declared unsafe for use or closed by a regulatory body is a criminal offence and in violation of the OHS [occupational health and safety] Act. As the CEO, you have a legal duty of care, and that includes not subjecting your staff or exposing them to unsafe working environment ... and we will not hesitate to report you to the department of employment and labour,” Manyoni said.
He also asked what progress had been made on complying with the employment and labour department's findings of last year, regarding the safety of the building.
Ironically, one of the reasons given by the RTIA for their relocation was that the previous building had failed several occupational health audits, and “was thus exposing the agency to violations of the OHS Act”.
Tshehla said at the time that it was the OHS factors that made the move “more urgent”.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said Moloi had failed to respond to the union’s demands for clarity, and had not withdrawn the instruction for staff to return to the office this coming week. “Numsa is demanding the report from CoJ confirming that the office is safe to work in,” she said.
“Without the report, we cannot in good conscience, encourage workers to return to work. They should continue to work from home until they are given a guarantee that it is safe to return. If the CEO will not provide a report from the city confirming that the workplace is safe, Numsa will attempt to get it from CoJ ourselves.”
The City of Joburg and the department of labour did not respond to questions by the time of going to print.
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