Questions are still lingering around the problem of unfilled vacancies at the municipality’s Finance department. The issue cropped up last month at the Budget, Treasury and IDP Portfolio (BTI ) committee meeting where Chief Financial Officer, Jackson Ngcelwane said they have been running their department
with skeleton staff which has led to the late processing of payments and reports.
Questions are still lingering around the problem of unfilled vacancies at the municipality’s Finance department. The issue cropped up last month at the Budget, Treasury and IDP Portfolio (BTI ) committee meeting where Chief Financial Officer, Jackson Ngcelwane said they have been running their department
with skeleton staff which has led to the late processing of payments and reports.
He mentioned that the positions of an accountant, assistant manager of the supply chain unit and a pay master were vacant within his department even though interviews had been conducted in May.
When councillors enquired about this report at the BTI committee meeting on Monday this week, no report was available yet.
the Assistant Director of Revenues Collection, Luvuyo Sizani informed the portfolio councillors that the Human Resources department has done their bit in short-listing the candidates and now “investigations” are being conducted.
Councillor Thandeka Veliti said that a person should be appointed based on his/her qualifications and skills.
the interviewing panel would have done the scoring and reached a consensus on the short-listing of candidates.
If the Municipal Manager is having some issues with this process and has to conduct investigations, it is “undermining the people that are doing the interviews”.
Councillor Zonwabele Mantla said these positions were interviewed in May and no report has come forward yet.
“I am not happy with the way things are handled, its not right. “Because it is almost 30 days after we sat here, even the chairperson is not providing us with information, because he was also mandated to talk to the Mayor and the administration is not providing any information,” he said.
Councillor Les Reynolds said he is worried that there doesn’t seem to be anybody who is being held accountable for not doing their job.
“Corporate Services always spin a story,” he said. He mentioned how some institutions have tracking systems in place to see that employees are replaced and that the committee and the CFO should enforce the same system as the community will suffer from this lack of service delivery.
Grocott’s Mail contacted the municipality for confirmation on which posts have been shortlisted and why the qualifications of the short-listed candidates are being investigated.
Makana spokesperson Thandy Matebese that they are not in a position to respond to this questions about employment processes which are confidential. “However I’d like to state that, it is common practise to verify one’s qualifications and previous experience,” he said.
