PORT ELIZABETH - NELSON MANDELA BAY METRO HAS OVER 1700 VACANCIES AND A BILLION IN THE BANK

Over 1 700 potential job opportunities in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality are vacant.

This revelation follows recent parliamentary replies, according to the Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape.

In a statement on Thursday, DA Caucus leader, Retief Odendaal slammed Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Danny Jordaan for “withholding services” from residents in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Odendaal said the failure of the metro to fill 1 774 vacancies was surely the reason for ongoing service delivery woes.

“In a shocking revelation of neglect and irresponsibility, parliamentary replies have exposed the shocking amount of vacancies in our Metro, which is surely the reason for ongoing service delivery, housing and safety collapse in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“In the Infrastructure and Engineering and the Electricity and Energy Directorates alone, both of which are entirely responsible for service delivery, there are a total of 742 vacancies,” said Odendaal.

He further highlighted the plight of people living in Missionvale who struggled without electricity connections, while residents in Motherwell lived in unsanitary conditions without refuse collection.

Odendaal said that Jordaan had perpetuated an “already catastrophic situation” by not filling hundreds of critical posts.

Odendaal further slammed the municipality for withholding public funds, instead of spending cash holdings on better services.

Jordaan previously announced that the municipality had cash holdings of R1.7 billion in the bank.

“Strangely, the metro released a statement a few weeks ago claiming that a cash holding is reason to celebrate. As residents, we cannot celebrate that so many vacancies exist and services aren’t delivered while the municipality holds our public funds in its bank account,” said Odendaal.

Meanwhile, Acting Municipal Manager, Johan Mettler, said that the municipality had budgeted for 250 vacancies for the 2015/16 financial year, amounting to around R30 million.

“It is correct that there are 1 774 vacancies for the entire metro structure, however not all of the vacancies were budgeted for. We budgeted for 250. We are in the process of filling vacancies and we looking at 1 500 by the end of this financial year,

“We don’t have the resources to fill all the vacancies at once, you will find at any institution being able to fill all vacancies in one financial year is just impossible,” said Mettler.

Mettler added that the metro would be looking at budgeting approximately R50 million for vacancies in the next financial year.

VIA - iol.co.za