Clients who are unemployed and residents of Germiston and surrounding areas will no longer have to travel far to receive free services provided by the Department of Employment and Labour.

This is because the Germiston Labour Centre reopened this week after being closed for four years which meant that clients had to travel a bit further to access services.

"By reopening this centre, we are reaffirming the Department’s commitment to serving the public and vulnerable clients. Circumstances beyond our control led to the closure but we are happy that we have now overcome this obstacle and the centre has opened.

"The closure of any labour centre means that surrounding areas are put under more pressure as they service clients that would have ordinarily been served by the closed centres," said Tshepo Mokomatsidi, the Gauteng Chief Director of Provincial Operations.

The re-opened centre will be operational from Monday to Friday from 7:30 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon. It is located at the Standard Bank Building on 241 President Street, and boasts a staff complement of 130 officials. Twenty five of these are the frontline officers who we call Client Service Officers and 16 are Labour Inspectors.

As expected, the centre will assist clients with their Unemployment Insurance claims as well as claims for Compensation for Workplace Injuries and Diseases.

The office, like any other labour centre in the country, has Public Employment Services (PES) officials such as Career Counsellors and Employment Service Practitioners who will provide PES services such as registering work-seekers onto the Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) database and registering employment opportunities that will later be matched with available work seekers in the department as well as the private sector.

Labour Inspectors will conduct a proactive and reactive inspections to ensure compliance with labour legislation.