More than 10 000 metro vacancies
There are more than 10 000 vacant job posts in Tshwane and the metro is under spending R86 million on salaries.
Andrew Ngozo
More than 10 000 positions are vacant in the Tshwane metro, the Freedom Front Plus pointed out this week.
FF Plus councillor Awie Erasmus said this implication was that basic services could not be delivered to residents.
There were 10 854 vacant positions in the metro on 7 September, which meant the metro was under-spending R86 million on salaries.
“Positions are there for a reason, and if they are not filled, it means someone somewhere in Pretoria is not receiving a much-needed service,” Erasmus said.
He said the situation required an investigation.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said many of the vacant positions were obsolete.
The metro was reviewing its organisational structure for an assessment of all vacant positions in line with service delivery commitments.
“Most of the vacant positions are obsolete and will [therefore] be abolished from the structure,” he said.
Under the Municipal Finance Management Act, the filling of vacancies had to be guided by the availability of money.
“The turnaround time for the filling of a position is at least two months, subject to the process as per the staffing policy of the metro,” Mashigo said.
“Therefore, the metro is not compelled to fill vacant positions within a specific period without having conducted necessary manpower planning, prioritisation and evaluation of their impact on service delivery.”
Mashigo said the fact that there were vacant posts did not mean service delivery commitments were neglected.
The vacancy rate was not the only measure used to evaluate the impact of service delivery.
A workforce-planning committee had been set up to ensure all requests for the filling of vacancies were subjected to intense scrutiny had been established.
“The committee assesses the impact of a position on service delivery and the prioritisation required with a global perspective on organisational priorities,” said Mashigo.
“The committee has been given overriding powers to recommend to the city manager on positions that are deemed critical for filling. Previously this was the determination of individual departments.”
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