Pretoria - South Africa's largest online retail company, Takealot, has become the latest business to come under fire by the Department of Employment and Labours' mega blitz inspections.
The Takealot warehouse in Kempton Park, Gauteng, was found in breach of a number of labour laws following a physical and administrative inspection by the department’s inspectors this week.
During the inspection about 11 undocumented foreign national employees and two employers were arrested at the Takealot warehouse site in Kempton Park and about three people were arrested in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The Labour department reported that there were outstanding cases in the Silverton area where the Home Affairs Immigration Agents were still verifying documents.
According to the department the online retail company, had not been complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, at its warehouse in Kempton Park, where parts of the facility posed immediate danger to its workers on site.
The company was found to have contravened the Occupational Health and Safety Acts ergonomics regulations, pressure equipment regulations, general administration regulations, hazardous chemical agent regulations, driven machinery regulations as well as general safety regulations.
The Department’s inspectors also found that Takealot was not complying with the Unemployment Insurance Fund Act, Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and compliance orders against the company were issued in those regards.
The online retail management were also served with a notice direction to improve the company’s clinic facilities, create demarcated driveways inside the warehouse and improve the company’s warehouse risk assessment specification.
Takealot were also issued with three prohibition notices which prevent them from allowing contractors on site with step-ladders without non-skid rubber, storing of chemicals in a general storing area or racks that were flammable and could have adverse effect to the health and safety of employees.
They were also issued notices for deducting monies from employees for the provision of protective safety shoes.
The department reported it had granted Takealot a period of 60 days from the date of the served notice to get its house in order.
“We don’t take pleasure in seeing you being squeamish. We don’t want that because we hardly ever subscribe to the stick approach, unless we are pushed to the limits and if you push us you are going to see that,” said the department's Inspector-General Aggy Moiloa.
“We've noticed that it’s been a trend of contraventions throughout the country. The compliance levels range from anything from 18 percent up to just under 40 percent,” Moiloa added.
Pretoria News