Johannesburg - The Department of Labour has closed three offices in the Western Cape following confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The positive cases were recorded at the Mitchell Plain Labour Centre, the Nyanga satellite office and at the Paarl Labour Centre.
This comes as the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s headquarters in Pretoria also recorded a positive infection on Wednesday, forcing it to shut its doors.
Department spokesperson Teboho Thejane said employees tested positive and expected the Cape offices were expected to be closed for the week.
They said this was to allow workers who had come into contact with their colleagues to go into isolation and to allow the premises to be decontaminated.
In Pretoria, they said the UIF head office closing would not affect payments being made, but they did say the closure of the office could affect operations.
The Western Cape’s chief director for operations, Mawele Ntamo, said the officials had interacted with other employees who were working at the labour centres. Ntamo said the department had been conducting regular assessments of staff which includes daily health checks and temperature screening.
The director-general of the department, Thobile Lamati, said the safety of all staff remained paramount.
“Our officials are an important cog of the working of the South African economy and as such, we will also ensure that they are as safe as possible.", he said.
The department said it expected the Paarl office to reopen next Monday, while the Mitchells Plain and Nyanga offices and the UIF head office were expected to reopen next Thursday, June 25.
The department said its other offices which had been closed owing to the virus - Vredenburg (Western Cape) and East London (Eastern Cape) - had now been reopened.