Maputo — The General Inspectorate of Labour, in the Mozambican Labour Ministry, has ordered the immediate suspension, on safety grounds, of work on the construction of a block of warehouses in the southern city of Matola.

The warehouses, in the Fomento neighbourhood, are located along the Maputo-South Africa motorway. The contractor is the Mozambican company ATA construcoes.

A press release from the Labour Ministry warns that the lack of safety on the building site is so serious that it poses "Life-threatening dangers to the workers".

Labour inspectors found that the company had issued no helmets to the workers, and no appropriate footwear. There were not enough work clothes for all the workers, and there were no bathrooms on site.

Perhaps worst of all, there were no boards on the scaffolding, so that the only footholds the workers would have were the scaffolding itself.

The Labour Ministry warns that the suspension will only be lifted after a new inspection verifies that all the irregularities have been corrected.