At a cost of R2.9m a year, 12 of the political appointees in Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Eugene Johnson’s office spend their days walking the streets looking for water leaks.
The mayoral co-ordinators report to the metro’s rapid response task team, headed up by Zonile Ndoni.
Her office also has six youth co-ordinators, who earn a combined R2.4m a year.
Johnson’s chief of staff, Jimmy Tutu, struggled to spell out exactly what else the mayoral co-ordinators do during the day apart from checking water leaks.
He said the mayoral co-ordinators were appointed to assist the mayor.
“Their job is to assist the mayor at a ward level in relation to activities in various structures,” Tutu said.
“They have been doing this job for the past eight months. They are monitored every day.
“They check water leaks in various households, open spaces and then report back.”
He said this was part of the city’s plan to tackle the water crisis.
“They have been mandated by the mayor to check and report water leaks.”
Johnson, meanwhile, described the political appointees as her “middlemen”.
“They go out into communities and get issues from residents.
“If there are any service delivery problems raised by communities they direct it to the necessary departments,” she said.
This, Johnson said, was done through the rapid response task team in her office, with reports submitted to Ndoni on a weekly basis.
Asked for examples of the reports, Johnson’s spokesperson, Tango Lamani, sent a link to the municipality’s Facebook page.
According to the post on Saturday, titled “RRTT Weekly service delivery report” and dated June 16, six issues were resolved.
On July 11, rubble was cleared along John Street in Kariega and power was restored in Kwazakhele after an outage caused by a faulty cable on the same day.
Also on July 11, police and metro security services were able to restore peace and order in Ward 53 after a violent service delivery-related protest.
On July 13, a huge [pot]hole in Ntshekisa Road, New Brighton, was repaired.
Then on July 14, a burst pipe in Mendi Road, New Brighton, was repaired.
Tango failed to answer several other questions about the positions.
Mayoral co-ordinators earn R245,772 a year and youth co-ordinators make R350,652 a year, according to a leaked municipal document.
A leaked job description form lists several other responsibilities of the mayoral co-ordinators. These include:
- Providing administrative support to the mayoral satellite office;
- Building and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure information on relevant matters [is] made available through various channels; and
- Ensuring that information from the mayor’s office and municipality is shared with communities.
Their term is attached to the “political principal”, meaning once the mayor’s term ends so does their jobs.
Lamani said the youth co-ordinators were allocated specific responsibilities that related to the co-ordination of interventions and support that needed attention.
“Through them, different interactions and partnerships with public institutions at all spheres and other municipalities are co-ordinated and implemented.
“We are happy to say that there is a level of happiness in how they carry out their assigned responsibilities.
“Some of them were recently assigned to represent the municipality in youth platforms created by strategic partners both within and outside the metro.”
Political appointments have been a sensitive issue in the coalition government since the polls in November, with parties often complaining that the ANC has taken up most of the positions.
In March, a report was given to councillors showing that Johnson wanted 12 more political appointees for her office — at an extra cost of R3.2m a year.
The report is yet to be formally tabled in council.
The increase in political appointees was proposed as the ANC-led coalition had struggled to pass the 2021/2022 adjustments budget.
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