BusinessLive reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA) has failed in its bid to force the health department to move staff out of a building it claims is unsafe.  

The union approached the Labour Court in Johannesburg on an urgent basis‚ asking that staff at the Civitas building in Pretoria‚ the national headquarters of the health department‚ be relocated.  The application followed a deadly fire in September that claimed the lives of three firefighters responding to a blaze at the Bank of Lisbon building in Johannesburg, which housed three Gauteng provincial departments.  In its court application‚ the PSA said the Civitas building was also unsafe, calling it a tragedy waiting to happen.  Civitas staff have been protesting outside the headquarters intermittently since April‚ claiming the building was a “death trap”.  However‚ the Labour Court dismissed the application on the basis that it had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.  PSA spokesperson Tahir Maepa said they were very disappointed that the court did not listen to the merits of their case and that they were considering appealing the judgment.

• Read this report by Belinda Pheto in full at BusinessLive

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