ETHEKWINI Council has given the go ahead for for the establishment of the Moses Mabhida and stadia ring-fenced business unit
The decision is in line with a previous council decision taken in December 2016, whee council adopted a new resolution pertaining to the long-term institutional arrangement of the starium and the need to expedite the process.
Council has now approved the creation and implementation of the organogram of the Moses Mabhida Stadium and five other stadiums, namely King Zwelithini, Chatsworth, Sugar Ray Xulu, Princess Magogo and Mpumalanga. This came into effect on 1 July. It was felt that the Moses Mabhida ring-fenced business unit structure would ensure sustainable management of the stadia by maximising socio-economic opportunities through delivery and management of events. The new structure will see a head, two deputy heads and a senior manager among the top structure. There will be 175 posts in total.
Providing background to the issue, an Executive Committee report stated that the city had, in April 2010, signed a caretaker operator agreement for the provision of commercial and operational management services by the Municipal Management Services at Moses Mabhida Stadium until 31 December 2010.
The services which commenced from 1 May 2009 ultimately expired on 30 June 2013 following a series of extensions.
Council, on 28 June 2013, adopted a resolution that the future operation of the Stadium be undertaken by Durban Marine Theme Park through a Service Delivery Agreement. In support of this decision, the then City Manager approved the secondment of staff from various municipal units to key management roles at the Stadium.
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However, on 8 December 2016 Thekwini Council decided to rescind all previous decisions taken to integrate Moses Mabhida Stadium with the Durban International Convention Centre and consequently adopted a new resolution regarding the long term institutional arrangement of the Stadium.
The recommended structure makes provision for two core functions, namely commercial and events services, and operations and facilities management services.
Apart from the core functions, a need to create the administration support was identified. Other support functions such as information management, finance, procurement and human resources will be rendered by the line departments.
The implementation of the recommendations in the report will incur a projected annual expenditure of R52 364 259. The cost of the funded posts is R45 257 036 with the additional expenditure of R7 107 223 to be sourced through the adjustment budget. The additional expenditure takes into consideration Moses Mabhida Stadium and the five other stadiums. The additional expenditure also takes into account the 18 new posts which include four executive posts which were not funded in the existing Moses Mabhida structure.
Speaking on the matter, Councillor Martin Meyer, who spoke to Berea Mail earlier this year regarding the lack of maintenance at the stadium, said: “I am happy that the impasse has finally ended and that we can now move forward with the management of Moses Mabhida. As has been highlighted previously, the stadium is in urgent need of maintenance work. Also, we need to improve on our business plan to ensure that the empty shops are filled and that we generate an income from the stadium.”
He said he would engage with the new management to see how they could work together.
“One of the matters I will discuss with them is local labour and employing our local community in vacancies to address the growing youth unemployment in our ward,” he said.
