TimesLIVE reports that City of Johannesburg group finance employees were evicted from their offices on Wednesday afternoon due to the city's alleged failure to pay rent.

The employees, occupying at least four floors in the building situated at 75 Helen Joseph Street in the city centre, were ordered to leave their offices during working hours. This came amid the financial crisis plaguing the DA-led multiparty government, with a number of attempts at getting council to approve a R2bn loan to “fix the cashflow mismatches” proving unsuccessful. An employee at the revenue services department indicated that the eviction was “abruptly” communicated by their operational managers. “We were not given even an hour to evacuate the building. We did not even have time to source transportation to take our office belongings. They told us the city has not been paying rent for eight months or so, and the landlord started switching off electricity supply on Tuesday,” the employee reported. He went on to say: “The city is not providing data for employees and is expecting us to take desktop machines to our residential areas. They are not considering the security threat in council property being removed from official premises to our private properties where security is not as tight. We find it very discomforting to operate in this way.” Staff representative Karabo Ramahuma said the eviction was likely to have an adverse effect on service delivery. Allegedly, employees with Wi-Fi connections in their houses have been told to work from home, while those without such connections will be made to “squat” in alternative buildings rented by the city.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisanda Mbolekwa at TimesLIVE

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