Metro set to fill 170 critical posts

Bay in hiring spree to fulfil service-delivery requirements by end of next month

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is on a hiring spree as plans are afoot to fill 170 critical vacancies by the end of next month. The city had already appointed about 30 staff in service delivery-oriented departments by the beginning of this month, acting head of corporate services Vuyo Zitumane said yesterday.

She said the rest would be appointed by the end of the financial year on June 30.

Last week, the municipality came under fire when it emerged in a parliamentary reply that there were 1 774 vacancies in the Bay municipality.

Of those, 742 vacancies are in the city’s infrastructure and engineering department.

The DA’s Bay caucus leader, Retief Odendaal, said the large number of vacancies was the reason for what he termed the “ongoing service delivery, housing and safety collapse” in the metro.

Odendaal said the city administration was choosing not to fill the vacancies.

When the 2015-16 budget was passed in June last year, the city placed a moratorium on the filling of vacant posts.

This placed huge strain on a number of departments that battled to fulfil their service-delivery requirements due to a shortage of staff.