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Nelson Mandela Bay’s safety and security directorate has spent just 5% of its capital budget, forfeiting R250,000 earmarked for new firearms as at December 31 2025.
This comes after officials failed competency tests.
The department has also not spent R1.1m allocated for refurbishments at the Govan Mbeki, KwaNobuhle and Miramar fire stations.
The figures are contained in a report that looked at the department’s spending between July 1 and December 31 that was tabled at a safety and security committee meeting.
The underspending was discussed at the committee meeting on Tuesday, where it was also revealed that the metro last bought new fire trucks eight years ago.
A report by acting executive director Shadrack Sibiya showed that the R250,000 allocated for firearms had not been used as there were sufficient guns in storage after some officials became ineligible to carry them.
“Once an officer is involved in a domestic violence case, for example, they become incompetent to possess a firearm,” he said.
“Involvement in any crime means they cannot possess a firearm.
“If they fail to attend a shooting exercise, they immediately become incompetent.
“We also have officials involved in disciplinary matters, and when that happens, firearms cannot remain with them,” Sibiya said.
According to the report, of the funds allocated for refurbishments at the three fire stations R300,000 for the KwaNobuhle Fire Station could not be spent because all the paperwork for the contract got lost.
Ward 44 ANC councillor Luzuko Ndamse said it was concerning that instead of maintenance being done at the KwaNobuhle Fire Station, the budget was declining year after year.
“The issue is bothering me because if you go back to previous financial years, you can see the amount is going down.
“I pass there almost every day, you can see the fence is not up to standard and even the building itself, and now there is no paperwork,” he said.
A separate report tabled at the meeting revealed that the department has 130 funded vacancies, including a director for operations and resource management.
Interviews for the post were conducted in December 2024.
The department does not have a permanent executive director.
Sibiya has been acting in the position for more than two years.
DA councillor Sean Tappan said it was difficult to understand why there was so much red tape around appointments to critical posts.
“The comment in the report for the appointment of the metro police that ‘this is the second time this position was advertised’ is the same as last year,” he said.
According to the report, the office of the executive director is still waiting for a shortlist of candidates for that post, as well as for the deputy chief director of operations.
“If you go through every single department, it’s hard to understand why there is so much red tape for vacancies critical to this city.
“Safety and security is the number one directorate because without these people you cannot protect parks or people.
“We move from meeting to meeting with the same thing written in the right-hand column,” Tappan said.
Interviews for a senior director and deputy director of information technology were also held in December 2024.
DA councillor John Best said it was ridiculous to expect the municipality to function effectively with 29 vacancies in the fire department alone.
“How are we going to run a department when at fire alone there are 29 vacancies.
“When we talk about fire, we are always thinking of hard-working officers, but we do not have enough vehicles,” Best said.
The municipality has budgeted R10m in 2026 for new fire trucks, but not a single vehicle has been purchased due to supply chain delays.
“When you look at the unfunded vacancies, it’s 867. We are sinking faster than the Titanic sank,” Best said.
GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said the failure to buy trucks showed there was no consequence management in the municipality.
“It makes no sense that smaller municipalities like Dr Beyers Naude and Kou-Kamma are buying trucks regularly, but we cannot.
“It shows there is no consequence management — that you can do whatever you like and nothing will happen.
“We will just keep going backwards,” Troon said.
At the meeting, Sibiya said the municipality was now using National Treasury contracts to bypass supply chain delays.
“We have been going through supply chain processes and realised there are ongoing delays, especially when it comes to procuring vehicles.
“These are specialised vehicles and, of our R75m budget, R35m is for vehicles in fire and emergency services.
“We have opted to use the RT57 contract. We did not know in the past that we could use it.”
An RT57 contract is a National Treasury transversal contract for the supply and delivery of vehicles.
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