The National Student Financial Aid Scheme NSFAS is under fire once again, this time over safety failures at its Cape Town headquarters, where staff say the workplace is unfit for human occupation.
The funding body, which rents five floors in the Halyard building on the Foreshore, experienced a ceiling collapse on the 17th floor after a burst pipe on 13 August. The incident, which occurred in the early hours of the morning, caused water damage to carpets and office space. Staff noted that the outcome could have been more serious if it had happened during working hours.
'The roof ceiling collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday morning no one was at the office. The roof fell on PCs computers the pieces of the roof were on desks, and there was water,' one worker told Daily Maverick , speaking anonymously. 'Before this, the workers were smelling diesel, but the health and safety officer downplayed this and said this came from the harbour and had nothing to do with the building.'