Department of Labour offices in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga were shut down by their own inspectors after being found to pose a serious health hazard to workers, the department said yesterday.

Department of Labour offices in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga were shut down by their own inspectors after being found to pose a serious health hazard to workers, the department said yesterday.

Departmental spokesman Zolisa Sigabi said the shut down had to be implemented after numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to alert the national Department of Public Works to correct the problems.

He said his department's inspectors found a water leak in the ceiling and offices were infested with breeding mosquitoes.

The inspectors also found that the building had a foul smell.

A notice halting all the activities was issued on Tuesday.

"This goes to show that government offices are not immune from labour inspection.

"We closed the offices of Home Affairs in North West earlier this year and there is no way that we can give ourselves special treatment if we don't comply with our own rules," said Sigabi.

To ensure service delivery was not hampered, Sigabi said the Nelspruit labour centre had deployed two mobile units to serve the area temporarily and part-time offices were opened in Hazyview and White River. Neighbouring labour centres were also helping out. - Sapa