Changes at metro police to stick

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

File picture: Following a year of protesting, the eThekwini municipality has turned more than a thousand contract posts into permanent jobs.

Durban - The changes implemented by Vincent Ngubane when he was acting head of Durban’s metro police while Eugene Nzama, the head, was on special leave, would be left in place, despite the latter’s opposition, eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo has said.

The mayor, who is also the regional spokesman for the ANC, was speaking after the party’s regional media briefing in Durban.

Nxumalo said that now, since the metro police reported directly to the muinicipal manager S’bu Sithole, Ngubane’s changes would continue despite Nzama’s opposition.

“You cannot have instability within the metro police. We need to address the issues raised by unions,” he said.

Nzama was put on special leave, Nxumalo explained, after a “gentlemen’s agreement” to give the embattled police commander a chance to “cool his head”.

The metro police has been mired in controversy as officers, who are members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union, demanded Nzama be sacked as he was not addressing their demands.

Sithole gave Nzama three months special leave, which was due to end on August 31. But, after Nzama approached the Durban Labour Court, he was allowed to return to his office early last month.

While Nzama was on leave Sithole asked Ngubane to speedily address issues that Nzama had failed to deal with.

Those issues included the permanent employment of 1 000 temporary police and to send over-age officers for police training before employing them.

It had been reported that Nzama had argued that it was against the law to employ over-age people as police officers and that there was no budget to permanently employ temporary officers.

Nxumalo dodged questions about whether or not he was happy with Nzama’s performance.

“I don’t have a problem with Nzama as a person. I only want people to do the job that they were employed and paid for,” he said. - The Mercury