Sewage spilling from the sinks: Department of Defence’s HQ swamped

The Department of Defence and Military Veterans’ head office in Pretoria is in critical condition, with water flooding the floors, sewage spiling from the sinks, and aircons and escalators that are out of order. 

Videos and photos from inside the building show water pouring from the ceilings, sewage pooling in bathroom basins, and brown water pouring from the taps, posing a serious occupational health and safety hazard to employees.

This has been going on for over a year and to make matters worse, the department purchased another building in Midrand for R181 million in early 2025, despite its own engineers indicating structural defects.

Newsday first caught wind of the story from a Parliamentary question by EFF Member of Parliament Carl Niehaus, posed to Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga.

“The DMV Head Office is currently not in a good state; there are frequent wear and tears which require the department and the landlord to attend to as stipulated in the lease agreement,” she said.

However, Niehaus told Newsday that the state of the premises is far from the “wear and tear” described by Motshekga.

“Pipes are leaking, water is flooding the floors, the escalators have stopped working, and there is sewage overflowing out of the toilets. It’s a sick building,” Niehaus said.

“Many of the puddles on the floors shown in the videos have a pungent stink, so I think that some of the sewage must be leaking.”

Niehaus visited the building earlier in the year as part of a Parliamentary oversight visit.

The Parliamentarian explained that MPs and the staff working inside the building have brought the issues to the attention of the Minister and the department’s director general for two years. 

The Public Service Authority has also reported the department to the Department of Labour and Employment. 

When asked whether she was aware of this, Motshekga said she was not but that the department and PSA are in engagements at the bargaining council regarding occupational health and safety matters.

The Minister added that, because of the state of the office, her Department will be moving, having gone through the process of seeking a new suitable head office.

However, Niehaus says that this is what her department has been saying for the past two years.

The MP told Newsday that other parts of the building are also dysfunctional.

“There is no filing room for the department’s database, its just a pile of papers,” he said.

The department is also supposed to have a call centre for military vetarans to call in about their issues, but there are just two cellphones to fulfil this function.”

Four non-compliant buildings

The PSA told Newsday that the department’s bargaining chamber is currently seized with four non OHS non-compliant buildings, namely the Peter Bothongo, Besters, Poyntons and Liberty buildings.

“Some of these buildings are without Electrical and Building Compliance Certificates and the PSA’s request for compliance has fallen on deaf ears,” the association said.

“To make matters worse, In the beginning of 2025, the department procured Halfway Gardens Building in Midrand for R181 million despite an inspection report indicating structural defects by their own engineers.”

The PSA said that it has reported these issues to the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL). However, it is still awaiting inspection dates.

It added that the DEL is facing a staff shortage, which allows employers to “get away with murder by having the employees work in dangerous and dilapidated buildings.”

A department in utter chaos

Niehaus, who is a member of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans says that it is no wonder the head office is in the state it is given the department’s leadership woes.

“There are many departments in dire straights, but this is the worst. It is in utter chaos,” he said.

“When you talk to staff in the department and military veterans who this department is supposed to be serving, they say that it is getting aggressively worse.”

He pointed to a recent presentation by the DMV to the committee in which the Minister and the department’s Acting Director General, Nontobeko Mafu, were absent.

The department was reporting back to the committee about recommendations it had received regarding the crisis in service delivery to military veterans.

Both Motshekga and Mafu had issued apologies, with the Acting Director General noting that she was ill and could not attend.

“However, one hears from the department that the Acting Director General has not been in office for the past four weeks, so has she been ill for the entire time?” he said during the meeting.

“If there were Oscars awarded for avoiding accountability, it would go to the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.”

Mafu was appointed as the acting DG in December 2023 for a period of six months, later extended until such time that a permanent incumbent can be found.

According to Niehaus, Motshekga’s deputy Richard Mkhungo told the committee that Mafu would be replaced by the end of July 2025. However, nothing has come of this.

“There is also an array of charges against the Acting Director General. Why has she not yet been suspended?” he said.

The EFF MP said the department argues that charging Mafu would constitute double jeopardy because she has faced some of these charges in the past.

However, he says that not all the charges were faced and those that were were inexplicably dropped, adding that double jeopardy only applies if an individual has been charged, tried, and acquitted in a court of law.