Inside Report: Funded, vacant positions
With service delivery at a all time low and unemployment at an all time high, it is unfathomable that in our Metro there are literally hundreds of funded positions that are not being filled.
ALBERTON – Sitting on the community safety oversight, I hear how the departments cry about low staffing levels, yet upon analysis of their departments, one finds that there is about 300 funded positions that are vacant. That is 300 potential jobs that are budgeted for, in other words there is money but no will. The effect that these vacant positions have on service delivery is quite apparent, just look around and see the state of your neighbourhood.
One of the biggest bug bears in regards to this topic is that we have just paid millions of rands to an outside consultant for what was termed: “The institutional review”. What this is, is a report to the departments on their operational requirements in regards to personnel. What we got was an exceedingly top heavy structure, managers managing managers. What I don’t understand is why?
Why did we pay a company millions to give us an organogram that really doesn’t solve any problems, when we have hundreds of these funded vacant positions which this report conveniently ignores? Surely logic dictates that for the price of a manager we could get two general employees, and that in a Metro that needs boots on the ground, the benefit of having more general employees would be the first and foremost concern. And what makes it worse, is that we are already budgeting for these positions, but not filling them. Then, we will once again be paying a company millions to advise us to not fill them, but to create new positions for management – mind blowing isn’t it?
So to conclude, how many city officials does it take to change a light bulb? Depends on how many consultants you use.
Lastly, my deepest condolences go out to the families of the the community members involved in the horror motor vehicle accident on the N12. May their departed souls rest in peace.
