Johannesburg - The DA has called for the immediate reopening of the crucial Johannesburg Labour Centre, which has been out of service for more than a year.
DA MP Ian Ollis, the party's labour spokesman, visited the Department of Labour's Pretoria and Joburg centres on Tuesday, and expressed shock at the closure of the Joburg centre.
A note at the door of the centre on the corner of Commissioner and Smal streets, said the closure was due to “health and safety reasons which we are addressing as a matter of urgency”.
It called on people to, in the interim, make use of remote centres including Alberton, Roodepoort, Boksburg, Germiston, Randburg, Sandton and Soweto.
“These are far away places,” lamented Ollis, who said the Joburg centre was the biggest labour centre in the country, yet it was closed.
As he was speaking to The Star outside the centre, Charity Mdluli from Ennerdale, south of Joburg, arrived to lodge her application for the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
“I didn’t know the centre is no longer operating. I came here to apply for UIF because I was fired by my security company after being found guilty of being absent without leave,” she said.
Ollis said labour centres should play a vital role in assisting the unemployed, including rolling out the Public Employment Service, an electronic system matching job-seekers to employment opportunities.
“We were told in Parliament that the Department of Labour pays a monthly rental of R450 000.
“However, we are not sure if the rent is still being paid by the government on this empty building,” said Ollis.
He was accompanied by, among others, the DA's Joburg caucus leader Vasco da Gama and DA MPL Khume Ramulifho.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant’s spokeswoman, Mokgadi Pela, referred questions to her provincial counterpart Sekhothali Lerotholi and Kenny Fick, the chief director of provincial operations, both of whom could not immediately be reached for comment.
@iam_toh
The Star