News24 reports that an official from the Office of the Chief Justice informed the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Tuesday that some superior court buildings were "worse" fire hazards than the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

It was reported last week that Gauteng Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland had expressed his concern over unaddressed fire safety risks at the High Court, in respect of which emergency services had concluded that it would be unsafe to send firefighters into the building. Of particular concern to Sutherland, was the building's 10th floor, filled to the brim with volumes of court files and with plate glass windows often shining directly onto piles of papers. A City of Johannesburg fire inspection report from April 2022 found that the building "does not provide a safe environment for the occupiers/users anymore. In case of a fire the safe evacuation of occupiers/users is not guaranteed". ACDP MP Steve Swart referred to the reportage on the fire hazard at the court and asked what is being done to address the risks. Neil Naidoo, director of facilities and security at the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ), responded: "Yes indeed, there are fire hazards at many superior court buildings. And some are worse than Johannesburg. But we treat them all the same. They're all a risk to us, not only to the judiciary, but the litigants as well as the stakeholders we have coming to court.” He said they had compiled "action logs" and had sent them to the directors of court operations, either to implement the actions themselves when it was the OCJ’s responsibility, or to engage with the public works department. As for the documents stored on the 10th floor, Naidoo said they were looking at digitisation and at alternative spaces to store the records.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24 (subscriber access only)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page