Following the unexpected lifting of the floor tiles in one of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development building’s second floor office here in Mahikeng, which resulted in management ordering all staff members to evacuate the building, the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport’s civil engineers’ have this morning declared the building safe.
This floor tiles incident happened yesterday afternoon and the civil engineers swiftly responded to the call for an urgent inspection of the building.
Briefing the Agricentre staff about the development this morning, the Head of Department, Mr Iqbal Motala, said according to the civil engineer’s inspection report, the building is structurally sound and safe for occupation. This conclusion was based on the engineer’s inspection of the slab underneath the tiles, the walls and the pillars supporting the slab. According to the engineer, any structural defect would have manifested itself by the appearance of cracks in the slab, walls or pillars.
“This report is a sigh of relieve on our part, but we have resolved to request the engineers to conduct a thorough assessment of the structural integrity of this 20 128 square metre building, to assure all of us that the building is indeed structurally safe and sound,” said Mr Motala, who also urged staff members to work freely since the immediate concern has now been addressed.
Source: North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
