MAHIKENG, North West — The North West Department of Agriculture relocation to permanent facilities has encountered another major delay, leaving staff and essential services scattered across temporary district and local area offices after missing a critical deadline to move into their new Mahikeng accommodation.
The department’s former provincial head office, the Agri Center, was closed in 2025 due to non-compliance with general workplace safety and environmental health standards. Following this closure, the TEB Office Park was identified last month in June 2026 as a suitable alternative space. However, the relocation plans were derailed when the Department of Employment and Labour conducted inspections and issued both contravention and prohibition notices against the TEB Office Park.
The cited safety violations at the new building include malfunctioning lifts, inadequate emergency exit doors, the failure to submit a structural integrity report, and outstanding certification for the air-conditioning system.
The ongoing impasse has drawn the attention of the provincial legislature’s portfolio committee on agriculture and rural development. The spokesperson for the portfolio committee expressed deep concern over how the scattered operations are affecting the public.
“If we do not have offices where the end users who are the farmers can access the department and get the necessary services, it means the department is not going to be able to live up to the expectations,” the committee spokesperson stated.
The spokesperson noted that the building owner insists he is maintaining the property and has been provided with the specific issues that need correction. The owner has indicated that he is paying greater attention to the required fixes. Emphasizing that the matter should not be reduced to a political debate, the committee spokesperson called for an objective and technically sound assessment. They are urging the North West Provincial Government to immediately appoint an independent professional engineer—preferably through the Department of Public Works—to conduct a comprehensive structural and occupational health and safety assessment to determine if the building is legally fit for occupation.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development clarified their position as prospective tenants who can only wait for the landlord to achieve compliance.
“We are still waiting outside because labour, public works, and the owners are dealing with compliance of the building,” the department spokesperson explained. “Otherwise, that building is not owned by us.”
The spokesperson highlighted that the department’s own previously owned building was closed by the Department of Employment and Labour for non-compliance, forcing them into their current scattered arrangement. Their primary goal remains ensuring that provincial staff are based in centralized offices where the monitoring of work performance can be properly executed.
To break the deadlock, the portfolio committee is scheduled to convene a meeting on Monday with all key stakeholders. This includes the owner of the TEB Office Park, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Employment and Labour, in a joint effort to resolve the outstanding compliance issues and finally secure permanent office accommodation.