Municipality fails to fill critical posts for 3 years

THE Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in Harding has failed to fill critical staff vacancies, including one of chief financial officer (CFO), for more than three years.

The South Coast municipality is also without a director of Corporate Services.

The IFP in the council has claimed that internal ANC battles are behind the delays in filling vacancies.

The position of Corporate Services director has been vacant since 2013, and those functions have now been absorbed in the office of the municipal manager. The CFO position has been vacant since 2015 and currently an official seconded from the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) was acting.

The position of the municipal manager is also vacant after the council failed to find a suitable candidate for almost nine months. The council resolved to ask Cogta to second another official to act until the position is filled.

IFP councillor and exco member Vuyelwa Sambo Vezi said the failure to fill vacancies was affecting the functioning of the municipality.

“We missed the deadline to pass our budget, some of the Local Economic Development (LED) projects, meant to be approved, are yet to get off the ground.

“We are convinced that these alarming high vacancies are not as a result of the lack of skilled individuals in municipalities but rather that jobs are factionally reserved for certain individuals.

“This infighting affects service delivery. The ongoing factional battles among those in power are taking their toll on the poor, who are in need of service delivery,” she said.

EFF councillor Alson Cele concurred with Vezi.

“We have not had a permanent CFO since 2015 – can you imagine the level of corruption under such circumstances?” he asked. Umuziwabantu mayor Dixie Nciki dismissed the allegations, saying the municipality was running fine.

She said the position of the head of finance was vacant and an individual had been seconded from Cogta.

“There is someone in that position, there are key positions in a municipality that you cannot run a municipality without.

“We are in the process of filling those positions,” she said.