This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
News24 reports that had Parliament not placed its own security staff on leave during the holiday season of 2021/22, the fire that razed the National Assembly and destroyed much of the Old Assembly wing would never have occurred.
The parliamentary buildings are now being repaired at a cost of R2 billion. The man currently standing trial on charges of arson, Zandile Mafe, was allegedly in the parliamentary buildings for nearly 30 hours, setting off dozens of alarms as he made his way through various parts of the buildings before setting fire to a pile of boxes almost 26 hours after he first gained entry. Two police officers on duty in a nearby control room noticed nothing when he entered Parliament – one was caught on camera sleeping, while the other had headphones on. In the aftermath of the fire, Parliament's presiding officers requested a comprehensive report detailing the circumstances surrounding the security breach and the consequential fire. On Wednesday, Secretary to Parliament Xolile George briefed the press corps on the findings of the report, which, upon legal advice, will not be made public. George said: “The report emphasised that the fire incident could have been prevented, or its extent limited if certain critical measures had been in place. One such measure was the decision not to deploy Parliamentary Protection Services officers at night and on public holidays and weekends during the 2021/22 compulsory leave period, which left Parliament vulnerable." Furthermore, the investigation identified a range of systems and maintenance failures that "significantly contributed to both the security breach and the failure to prevent and contain the fire".
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24 (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Five Parliamentary officials to face disciplinary proceedings for January 2022 fire incident, at Cape Times
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page