Just four months after the completion of extensive repairs to the controversial Trust Bank Building in President Street, Vanderbijlpark, its ceilings caved in last week.
Municipal workers stationed there are once again forced to find a safe workplace.
The Trust Bank Building, which houses the Emfuleni Local Municipality’s Departments of Human Resources and Economic Planning, was repeatedly declared unsafe by the Department of Labour in 2024.
The Building has no natural ventilation and the air-conditioning system was out of order, so, many of the 74 employees repeatedly fell ill due to the poor working conditions.
In August 2024, the Building was evacuated and repairs followed. A year later, in August 2025, it was declared safe again.
The fact that ceilings are caving in and tiles are coming off the walls proves that the contractors’ quality of work falls far short.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) requested the Municipal Manager, April Ntuli, to urgently recall the contractors to repair the damage. The party also took a strong stand regarding the Municipality’s duty to exercise oversight to ensure that projects are successfully and sustainably completed.
For a specified period after a project’s completion, contractors should be held liable for poor workmanship and any repairs related to that.
The Freedom Front Plus will revisit the Building to monitor the repair work. Shoddy workmanship and substandard quality should not be tolerated – especially where people’s safety is at stake.
