Durban cuts back on staff’s free lunches and phone chats

STOP gabbing on the phone, say goodbye to free lunches and be prepared for an onslaught of angry consumers.

This is the law as laid down by eThekwini municipality boss Sibusiso Sithole, who has demanded that staff at the metro cut spending by between R663-million and R1.65-billion for the 2015-16 financial year.

Sithole said that rising fuel prices, Eskom’s requested tariff hike and the weakening rand had caused havoc.

As a result, the city’s rates would rise by more than inflation by July 1.

“Accordingly, we expect a backlash from consumers,” Sithole wrote in a circular sent out last week.

The council’s “pro-poor” draft budget will be finalised by the end of May after a series of public consultations.

If approved in its current form, the R39.1-billion budget would be the biggest in the city’s history, up from R35.2-billion last year.

But Durban’s 200 000 employees will have to forget about free lunches at meetings — unless gatherings last more than four hours.

Sithole said phone calls cost the municipality more than R3.3-million a month.

“Our current telephone bill is R40-million a year. This is unacceptable. We need to ensure that all staff are managing their land-line and cellphone usage to bring this cost to an acceptable level.”

Travel would also be strictly monitored, and seminars curtailed.

“We need to review the number of people travelling to such events . . . I support an approach where [one] person attends the event and shares the information with others through a succinct report,” wrote Sithole.

Cape Town is also cutting costs, said spokeswoman JeanMarie de Waal.

Positions that have been vacant for a long time are to be done away with, and the Western Cape capital is also saving on “office furnishings, excessive catering and public relations projects”, not to mention cutting back on hiring consultants, De Waal said.