About 80% of the staff at Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism are set to lose their jobs after the municipality’s decision to stop funding the tourism body.
Bay Tourism board chair Buli Ngomane said on Thursday the “leaner staff” complement would take effect in February.
The municipality said in December it would no longer fund the tourism body and would, instead, bolster its tourism division within its economic development, tourism and agriculture department to market the city.
“When you consider that the scope of work we were previously doing relates directly to the budget which was supplied by the municipality, this course of action [retrenchments] was inevitable when the city discontinued that funding,” Ngomane said.
Bay Tourism’s biggest funder was the municipality.
Ngomane would not say exactly how many employees were being let go, saying only that it was 80% of them.
“The staff [hired] by NMBT over the years were specifically recruited for the purpose of carrying out the mandate given to us by the city,” she said.
“Each undertaking of the entity has always been selffunding. As we relinquish those functions, we have no choice but to reduce our staff complement as well.”
However, Bay Tourism would continue providing services to its members.
“The entity will continue to service its membership [of more than 300] and its existing contracts.”
It would also draw from the pool of retrenched staff as it took on more projects.
“We have set up task teams to pursue various potential projects which are still in the negotiation phase.
“We will encourage the city to also draw from our retrenched staff pool when it sets up its own internal department,” Ngomane said.
Economic development portfolio head Queenie Pink said Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism staff who qualified for any advertised positions would be considered.
“I can imagine how this is affecting the staff at NMBT and their families and, with that in mind, I will ensure the matter is looked at with urgency to ensure that this process is concluded with most of the NMBT staff members safe with their jobs.
“From where I am standing, most of the NMBT staff at a level lower than management should be safe with their jobs, provided that they have all the necessary requirements.
“It must be noted that the decision taken was not to displace people or get them out of jobs, but was mainly to ensure that there is strong integration and alignment of function,” Pink said.
A draft organogram for the tourism marketing unit would be presented to the mayoral committee next week.
“Once the structure has been approved, the recruitment process will immediately kick in,” Pink said.
“And there is a clear recommendation that consideration be given to NMBT staff first before advertising [jobs] outside.”
Umzantsi Tours operations manager Lyn Haller is concerned about the risk of losing institutional memory.
“They [NMBT staff] are the ones who market and showcase our city and to do that you need to have the qualifications.
“I am very concerned about who will replace these people with all their experience if they are all going to be retrenched.”
Haller said the news had come as a shock to the city’s tourism industry.