Pretoria – The Department of Employment and Labour inspectors, who are embarking on a blitz around Pretoria, have shut down a combined school in the CBD.
Mishack Magakwe, Gauteng provincial spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Labour said the inspectors intervened after they noticed pupils peering through windows of a two-storey building.
“In accordance with Section 30 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) unit had to force the closure of a combined school in the Pretoria central business district with immediate effect as of today, 29 September 2022,” said Magakwe.
“The Purpose Finder Academy, from Grade R to Grade 12, in-housed at 404 Testimony House on the corner of Edmund Street and Du Toit Street in the downtown area of the Pretoria CBD, was therefore immediately served with a prohibition notice by the department’s inspectors.”
He said the school was prohibited from operating, under Section 30 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act because the number of pupils in the classrooms exceeded the number allowed in the space provided by the school.
“It was also prohibited from operating due to building or facility ventilation challenges at the school, as indicated by Department of Education inspectors who found no natural or mechanical ventilation in the classrooms,” said Magakwe.
“Therefore, it has been prohibited from continuing to operate until the identified matters have been rectified.”
On Wednesday, IES inspectors shut down a Pretoria wholesaler and retailer due to a failure to comply with occupational health and safety regulations.
“The Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement (IES) unit inspectors have completely closed a wholesale and retail facility for operation in the Pretoria CBD during a joint departmental mega-blitz inspection,” said Magakwe.
“The ABC Sweets wholesale and retail facility located on the city’s downtown corner of Edmund Street and Du Toit Street, is found to be non-compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, Section 30.”
The notice will remain in effect until the fire department issues the company with a compliance certificate.
“About 10 undocumented illegal foreign employees were also apprehended by the Department of Home Affairs’s immigration services at the facility,” said Magakwe.
IOL