Bricks come crashing down at library depot

THE DEPARTMENT of Employment and Labour has given the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture 60 days to comply with a contravention notice at the Mervin Erlank building in Kimberley, after bricks from the newly built Provincial Library Depot came crashing down.

- SANDI KWON HOO

The area around the Provincial Library Depot has been cordoned off after bricks came loose from the building.

(Picture: Sandi Kwon Hoo/DFA)

Staff took occupation of the building last year. Public Servants Association (PSA) provincial manager Steve Ledibane said that more than 200 officials employed at the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) were being subjected to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions at the provincial office.

"PSA shop stewards raised concerns regarding several critical issues, including leaking roofs throughout the building as there is no insulation between the roof and the ceiling; ventilation problems, including excruciating heat since the air conditioning is dysfunctional; and the uncontrolled collapse of the brand-new building," he said.

He added that rubble and the bricks that had collapsed at the library depot had yet to be removed.

"One block of the building does not have proper ablution facilities. Pipes keep bursting regularly and spilling into offices. This office was an old hostel building."