Excessive overtime in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality was once more the centre of a debate at a budget and treasury committee on Thursday, with R67m spent in four months.
Acting chief financial officer Jackson Ngcelwane said the only way to curb overtime spending was to finalise and implement a long overdue policy.
Ngcelwane presented a budget performance report to the committee on Thursday, revealing 10% of the city’s capital budget had been spent for the 2024/2025 financial year.
In his report, Ngcelwane noted that if the current trend in overtime expenditure continued throughout the financial year, it could exceed R400m.
“It is therefore anticipated that the 2024/2025 operating budget in the amount of R399m could be overspent once all year-end accruals for overtime have been processed at the end of the 2024/2025 financial year,” the report reads.
The main directorates responsible for the overspending are safety and security (R44m), water services (R13m), and sanitation services (R8m).
During the meeting, Ngcelwane warned that if overtime spending was not regulated, the city might face challenges in paying staff bonuses.
“The overtime policy is in its final stages, once it’s been concluded we’ll be able to monitor it and decrease the spending, otherwise we will find ourselves in a situation where we can’t pay workers their 13th checks.”
DA councillor Teslin Booysen said he was concerned about the 10% spending, but the figures on overtime were much more astounding.
“Looking at the overtime spending figures, they don’t match the work done on the ground and one wonders what are the staff doing because service delivery is in tatters, especially in public health and electricity.”
EFF councillor Pepsi James suggested a subcommittee made up of committee members be established to monitor budget spending since the existing one failed to convene its meetings.
“We can’t always debate issues and not do anything about it. Let’s establish a committee to look into our arrears debt especially and find ways to decrease it.”
ANC councillor Xolani Notshe said they had raised the same issues in different committees but not much had been done.
“This department is failed by its sister directorates. When we asked the former CFO why drains were not cleaned and why the maintenance budget was not spent, he said there were no maintenance plans from the different directorates.”
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