DURBAN - ALMOST half of the jobs available in the Msunduzi Municipality are vacant.
This stunning revelation is contained in the latest report compiled by the administrator, Scelo Duma, detailing the state of the municipality. The vacancy rate has also been highlighted in previous reports.
The report looks at the progress made since the municipality was placed under administration a few years ago.
It was tabled before the executive committee last week and will be tabled before the council this week.
It stated that there was a 48% vacancy rate in the municipality, based on the municipality’s organogram that was drafted in 2013.
It said the total number of jobs listed in the organogram was 6 203; 3 173 of these were filled, and 3 030 are vacant.
But the city’s management disputed this, saying a lot of work had been done to fill vacancies in the city.
The report showed that most of the vacancies are in recreation and facilities, with 477 positions being vacant, and public safety, with 370 positions being vacant.
It revealed that close to R70 million had been set aside by council to fill the vacancies, and 272 positions across departments had been advertised and were in the process of being filled.
“This will go some way towards reducing the municipality’s dependency on consultants, although this may take some time and more investments to reduce to an acceptable level,” it read.
The report revealed that to augment the staff shortages, especially in the landfill management area, the municipality had retained an external expert to assist.
Other experts had been deployed by the provincial government and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to assist, including financial experts.
Msunduzi municipal manager Madoda Khathide challenged the claims in the report that the municipality still had a high vacancy rate.
“We have gone to great lengths to fill the vacancies in the municipality; there is no administration that has done as much as we have in filling vacant posts,” he said.
Giving his overall impression on the report, Khathide said it was common cause that the municipality faced revenue collection challenges, and that in turn affected the things it was able to do.
The report also touched on disciplinary processes against staff members who had been implicated in acts of wrongdoing.
It revealed that it was taking some staff members to task and was trying to claw back R2.3 million from staff members who had been implicated in financial misconduct.
It said it had handed over other employees implicated in the abuse of overtime to debt collectors to recover more than R700 000.
But generally, it revealed that only a handful of staff members had been fired or disciplined for wrongdoing.
The report, for instance, shows that in November last year there were 64 disciplinary cases on the roll; but only one person had been suspended and three had been dismissed.
The report does not reveal status of the alleged nature of wrongdoing.
The report detailing the progress of the cases said they were delayed by postponements, or by the withdrawal of either the presiding officer or prosecutors.
It said the municipal manager was in the process of appointing new presiding officers and prosecutors.
The report claims that not many staff members have been placed on suspension because most cases are processed while the employees are working following risk assessments regarding their presence.
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