Metro’s R500M splurge on consults slammed

Almost R500m spent on private security and other services

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality spent close to R500-million on consultants in the last financial year, more than R100-million being splurged on private security. Councillors at a municipal public accounts committee meeting on Tuesday queried the exorbitant amounts, saying some of the consultants were duplicating the jobs of metro staff.

According to the auditor-general’s report, the city spent more than R495-million on consultants.

These include private security, meter-reading services, grass cutting, stadium management and transport operations, among other services.

Budget and treasury political head Retief Odendaal said the city had to drastically cut consultant costs.

“We should be significantly concerned . . . in terms of contracted services; how this has been bloated over the years,” he said at the meeting.

“Just this past year, we spent R495.3-million and the budgeted amount was actually R333-million.

“This does indicate that this is totally out of control.”

ANC councillor Ncediso Captain said the committee should be given a full report on the use of consultants at the next MPAC meeting.

“We need to understand what is going on,” he said.

“We can’t have a contractor while there are enough people to do certain services. We know that there are services that need experts and consultants must be used, but that should be monitored.”

The AG’s report said more than R100-million had been used on private security in just one year even though the metro had a safety and security department.

Odendaal said the city should not pay such amounts for private security. “We cannot spend so much money to secure our assets; there must be other options,” he said.

“Contract security is a runaway train.

“We can’t have a situation where contractors are making so much money from this institution when there is an inward solution.

“We could employ people instead to perform this function.”

Where there was duplication of duties, the city should use internal staff.

“We cannot have a situation where we duplicate functions and I believe where we have staff appointed, we cannot duplicate that function,” he said.

In an interview yesterday, Odendaal said he had met with all mayoral committee members and executive directors to discuss cutting back on the use of consultants.

Odendaal said the city would also find ways to curb expenditure on petrol costs as they believed it was open to abuse.

“At face value, we know that there is no proper internal control when it comes to fuel,” he said.

“We are going to put in strict measures to monitor that.”

We cannot have a situation where we duplicate functions