DURBAN - OPPOSITION parties in eThekwini Municipality have called for a probe into runaway expenditure on metro police overtime, questioning whether individuals were milking the system.
The sentiment was expressed during last Thursday’s full council meeting.
In the mid-year budget and performance assessment report for December 31, 2021 before council, a table on anticipated over-expenditure noted that the municipality had already spent R66.5 million on overtime for metro police.
The report further forecast that the municipality would have spent R180m in total on overtime for the metro police by the end of the current financial year. The report further noted that the expenditure was being monitored monthly by the departments and the executive management team.
Aside from the metro police unit, other municipal divisions, including the fire-fighting division, have been cited as units of concern regarding overtime.
EFF councillor Vukani Ndlovu said the overtime expenditure showed the extent of the rot in the department and called for a probe into the root cause of it.
“It is one thing to have people claiming for overtime once every quarter or so, but when that becomes a monthly exercise, it leads to questions as to who are the regular beneficiaries of this item, and that is why the matter needs to be probed thoroughly,” he told council.
He told The Mercury that, if the city did not have the capacity to conduct an investigation, outside help should be sought, as this was a serious matter.
“If needs be, an auditing firm should be appointed, because the city cannot afford to be losing millions of rand annually,” he said.
The DA was equally critical of the continued problem of the ballooning overtime bill.
DA councillor Yogis Govender expressed the party’s concern that there had still been no control measures implemented to reduce overtime expenditure, despite this having been reported a number of times.
“For two consecutive years, the city paid more than R1 billion in overtime, and no benefits have been derived from the existence of an overtime task team,” she told the council sitting.
She added that firefighters, security staff and metro police had been doubling their salaries during the lockdown by claiming up to 300 hours overtime a month.
“The city’s overtime cap is set at 40 hours a month per employee. ANC politicians seem to treat public money like a bottomless pit while the quality of life outside city hall is crumbling and decaying. It can’t be right that you dish out bonuses, fail to collect debt and pay astronomical unjustified overtime,” said Govender.
She argued that the overtime crisis reflected a serious management problem in eThekwini Municipality.
In addressing the matter at the full council meeting, eThekwini’s mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, said that the report gave a frank account of the challenges that the municipality was facing and expressed confidence that the plans in the pipeline would enable the city to navigate the challenging times ahead.
The report noted that the Covid-19 pandemic and last year’s unrest had presented several challenges and risks to the municipality and its entities including:
◆ A decrease in the revenue collection rate.
◆ Cash-flow constraints. ¡ Construction delays in projects owing to work disruptions experienced during the unrest.
◆ Reprioritisation of expenditure towards damaged assets and repairs and maintenance.
◆ Reprioritisation of both operating and capital expenditure to reflect the projected decrease in revenue and cash collections.
On the overtime issue, the mayor said the municipality realised it was sometimes abused, but stressed that systems were being strengthened to ensure this did not become the norm.
He added that the problem of overtime was a reflection of the metro police department being understaffed, which had been the case for several years.
“Metro police should have a 5 000 staff complement, but it currently sits at 2 000 staff members.
“We only hire 200 people each year, so that is why we have a problem of overtime,” said Kaunda.
He admitted that the shift system at the metro police needed to be managed better.
According to the mayor, metro police play an important role in ensuring the safety of road users in the city, so that Durban appeals to all those who visit, live and work in the city.
He pointed out that, because of the important role the unit plays, it was crucial to continue ensuring it had the capacity to do its work.
THE MERCURY