Defence minister Angie Motshekga, by way of answering a Parliamentary question, put the move of two SA Army formation headquarters to a “dilapidated” building in February in perspective.
Her response to Democratic Alliance (DA) defence and military veterans spokesman Chris Hattingh on 6 March has it the Bester Building is not a single structure but comprises five blocks with “only three affected by a fire in 2013”.
Bester Building blocks A and E were identified as office accommodation for the Infantry and Army Support formations of Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha’s service with an occupation date of 7 February. This did not happen following court intervention that set aside the Army’s instruction due to the dilapidated and unsafe state of the building.
On Hattingh’s terming the building “rat-infested”, he was corrected by the Defence and Military Veterans Minister, whose written reply has it “It is confirmed that the Bester building is not rat-infested”.
She further informs him blocks A and E were “never affected by the fire and have been declared safe and fit for purpose by both the structural engineer and the OHS (occupational health and safety) Officer”.
The fuss around moving 400 plus SA Army personnel into what was first reported as “a half-burnt office building without power or water” broke in mid-February and was seized on by the SA National Defence Union (Sandu) which took it to the Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria. At issue were the apparently unsafe working conditions of formation personnel. The Sandu application was successful with Acting Judge J Yende setting aside the instruction for SA Army Infantry Formation and SA Army Support Formation headquarters to relocate to the “Bester Building complex”.
The High Court application was brought by Sandu member Warrant Office Second Class Andrew Matthys, reportedly on behalf of all the 400 plus personnel scheduled to move offices. It referred to, in part, the Bester move as impacting on human health and safety as well as being “inhumane”.
An extract from his affidavit reads: “It boggles the mind that the powers that be could decide to move into this building. It is totally unusable and extremely dangerous. Clearly the instruction is unlawful and unconstitutional”.
“During the attempt to move into the building and to at least try and clean a section of it, at least one person in the SANDF (SA National Defence Force), MWA [presumably Master Warrant Officer (MWO)] Majola, had to be hospitalised because of breathing and airway problems after operating in the polluted structure and the ashes. It is very likely that there will be serious injury, or even loss of life, if the building is occupied for any period of time.”
As to why the move to the Salvokop building complex, behind and west of SA Army headquarters on Kgosi Mampuru Street, was needed Motshekga gave four reasons.
They were listed as “an evolving problematic security situation”; “a significant increase in traffic congestion”; parking shortages and reducing the “lease footprint as required by the Auditor-General”.
The Bester Building was damaged by fire in March 2013, and repairs have not been completed. The building lacks power, has no running water, non-functional toilets, no locks on doors to offices, windows with missing glass, rubble on the floor, wires hanging from the ceiling etc.
Refurbishment work only began in February, after the two formations were instructed to relocate.
* Update: defenceWeb understands the Department of Labour inspected the Bester Building on 19 March and declared the entire building unfit for occupation until renovations are complete and certifications are issued.
