A province-wide investigation is underway by the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works into the condition of lifts in all government buildings.
The investigation was prompted by the near tragedy at Mount Road police station where four people were seriously injured when a sabotaged lift, plunged four floors to the ground last month.
It was later established that 14 of the 25 counter-weights, each weighing around 75 kilograms, had been removed from the elevator in the police building.
A case of attempted murder was opened, while three of the injured people remain in hospital.
Public Works spokesperson, Thami Mchunu, said "the investigation is not just in Nelson Mandela Bay, its right across the Eastern Cape. We are checking on the lifts in buildings that are housing government Departments because we detected irregularities of missing counter-weights in two buildings that house the SAPS and SANDF, other than the Mount Road Police Station," Mchunu said.
"We felt that we needed to conduct a thorough investigation of all lifts in the province because we suspect there may be nefarious undertakings going on," he added.
"It's difficult to predict what's really going on. That is why the police are tasked with digging and finding out what is happening. Because if anyone tampers with a lift in a 15 floor building there obviously is attempted murder because if that lifts falls with people inside, people are going to be badly hurt or killed," said Mchunu.
"If someone removes counterweights to the lifts that's sabotage and attempted murder, that is why we have asked the police to investigate that case," Mchunu concluded.
He said the police investigation will guide our course off action, but as a Department we have taken the decision to immediately shut down the lifts and undertake thorough investigations of the safety of the lifts in all these buildings."
"We are very concerned because we take the safety our our employees and employees of the state and even members of the public very seriously. The health and welfare of people is a serious matter."
