Red tape leaves crucial safety jobs unfilled in Nelson Mandela Bay

More than 100 funded posts in Nelson Mandela Bay’s Safety and Security department remain empty, crippling the very structures meant to respond to emergencies, enforce the law and keep residents safe.

Some senior positions have been vacant for nearly two years.

According to a report by the department’s acting executive director, Shadrack Sibiya, delays in filling posts are partly due to internal bureaucracy, with other municipal departments holding up the approvals needed to appoint staff.

According to Sibiya’s report, there are 132 funded vacancies in several key sub-directorates, including disaster management, Fire and Emergency Services, Security Services and the Traffic and Licensing Service.

The report outlining these vacancies was originally scheduled for the safety and security committee on 24 February, but the meeting was postponed.

Sibiya’s report notes that interviews for the senior director and the director of operations and resource management in Fire and Emergency Services were held on 12 and 18 December 2024.

Yet, more than a year later, these critical positions remain vacant.

In the Traffic and Licensing Service, several posts are at the final stages of the recruitment process. The appointments are, however, still pending with appointment letters and the necessary administrative sign-offs still needed.

The Fire and Emergency Services sub-directorate is facing staffing shortages, with four firefighter positions vacant.

In Security Services, 26 watchman posts remain open, while the Metro Police Department has advertised for a chief of police and five constable positions.

Jason Grobbelaar, DA councillor and member of the safety and security committee, said the failure to fill these vacant positions was putting residents’ safety and security at risk.

Grobbelaar said: “Fewer Safety and Security personnel means slower response times and less visibility. It increases the pressure on existing staff due to overtime work and this leads to a city that puts the safety and security of our residents and our lives at risk.”

Although the posts are funded, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said vacancies in the Safety and Security Directorate were being managed within the metro’s broader organisational and budgetary framework.

“Due to fiscal constraints, vacancies are being filled through a phased and prioritised approach, aligned to approved budget allocations,” Soyaya said.

“Critical service delivery areas, including Safety and Security, remain a priority, and efforts are ongoing to strengthen capacity in line with available resources.”

Grobbelaar says not appointing people to the directorate means that overtime payments cost more for work that should have been done during normal working hours. This, he says, means ratepayers’ money is being spent poorly.

“There is always a risk – as happened last year, and likely will again – that funds for these positions are redirected to other operational functions while they remain unspent.

“This further undermines the safety and security of our residents, because once the funds are moved, the process halts and the money is no longer used for its intended purpose,” Grobbelaar said.

Meanwhile, another member of the safety and security committee, Good party councillor Lawrence Troon, said the directorate was operating with insufficient capacity as a direct result of longstanding vacancies.

“The biggest question is this: here is money, here are funded vacancies, why don’t you fill those positions? It is extremely concerning that a directorate with a healthy budget is performing so ineffectively.

“The safety and security directorate is one of the most critical departments. So I find it very difficult to comprehend why no action is taken to fill these vacancies.”

Troon said the reason behind the delays in filling the vacancies was also due to a lack of consequence management. He said that each of the heads of these divisions should have been held accountable and asked to account for why these vacancies had not been filled. DM