Work on residences halted
CONSTRUCTION on R80-million student residences at Rhodes University in Grahamstown was halted on Friday by Deputy Labour Minister Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa and the department’s director-general, Thobile Lamati, for posing a health and safety hazard to workers.
The construction company, CMHRB, a joint venture between top contractors CM Heunis and Roy Bowles, was found to have flouted various health and safety regulations by inspectors from the department.
The two Grahamstown contractors are some of the largest employers of unskilled labour in the town burdened by a high rate of unemployment.
The deputy minister and the director-general led a delegation that was in Grahamstown for a roadshow. They visited the busy construction site unannounced and were shocked to uncover “life-threatening” incidents principally linked to scaffolding, personnel protective clothing, unsafe holes and trenches.
Holomisa said yesterday it was shocking that leading companies were subjecting workers to such dangerous conditions.
“These are the same companies that snubbed our business breakfast meeting on Friday, where we called all businesses in the region to discuss job creation and economic growth strategies.”
Holomisa said the companies had claimed that the session would just be another “talk shop” that would yield no results.
He further said the companies had accused the department of chasing away foreign investment by having stringent policies.
“I regretted that they couldn’t attend this important meeting where we also called organised labour to attend,” Holomisa said.
“The businesses said that our policies were the cause of lack of investments because they felt that they were too restricting.
“It is very sad that we find the same companies to be flouting the labour laws.”
Holomisa said they had told the contractors to rectify all the problems before they could go back to the construction site.
“Rights of workers must be respected. The private sector is failing us,” he said.
Numerous attempts to obtain comment from the contractors yesterday were unsuccessful.
Rhodes University spokeswoman Veliswa Mhlapo said: “Rhodes University is aware that an inspection by the Department of Labour took place on Friday.
“We, however, await a report from the safety consultant before we can comment on this matter.”