CRIME is costing eThekwini municipality millions as it's forced to pay for round the clock security when its workers are out in the field.
The Sunday Tribune has learnt that council workers are so scared of being attacked while on duty that millions are paid to keep them safe on the job.
Insiders say criminal elements and the lack of internal capacity means that staff are always on high alert and in need of outside protection.
According to a senior manager in the municipality, the high need for security could cripple the council as it cannot continue to fork out millions without going bust.
At a recent event marking Mayor Cyril Xaba’s 100 days in office, Ednick Msweli the municipality’s deputy city manager for water and sanitation, told of how the municipality was spending millions of rand each year for the provision of security to staff when they go out to provide services in communities across Durban.
“Our department spent over R100 million last year on security for staff who sometimes get attacked where they are attending to problems. This is not sustainable.” said Msweli.
With water provision emerging as a major challenge for the municipality, staff are often dispatched to attend to leaks and blockages, and often come across angry and hostile community members or even thugs,he said.
Msweli said that because the safety of their staff took priority, his unit was battling to carry out its core work which includes attending to ageing infrastructure, burst pipes and leakages.
While the figures have not been released, it's believed that each year the city spends at least R150 million for security across the service orientated divisions which include electricity and roads.
Sunday Tribune has it on good authority that owing to a lack of internal capacity, the municipality has been forced to rely on private security to ensure the safety of its workers who are often mugged or victims of car hijackings as they go about their work.
The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) said the attacks on staff occurred regularly and that the staff’s safety was a sensitive issue.
“We have many incidents of employees having been mugged and even murdered whilst on duty, some inside the workplace and some whilst in their respective fields of work. The water department has the highest number of incidents,” said Imatu’s deputy president Queen Mbatha.
She said that the protection and guarding of employees was only a reactive measure and was mostly based on complaints after they had already been attacked.
Mbatha expressed labour’s willingness to participate in the robust programmes meant to bring eThekwini back to its glory days.
“The workplaces/depots are not safe at all. The little guarding that is there is only for the few high-level officials,” she said.
Mbatha said that the high costs associated with security were due to the continuous outsourcing of guards without any indication of a proper and permanent solution being developed.
“The municipality as a Metro has failed to develop mechanisms which will align with the current crime rate in eThekwini. Being reactive is not a solution. It is well known that the municipal vehicles, the stock, is always wanted by the criminals, and this results in employees being the victims as well. Being robbed of their belongings, cell phones, money and other valuables,” said Mbatha.
She said that while the law made provision for the employer to protect employees while at work, eThekwini employees were being killed and robbed while on duty, a situation which she described as saddening.
“As IMATU we call upon all the law enforcement agencies, SAPS, Metro Police,etc in eThekwini to ensure safety, especially during the upcoming festive season. We will always demand that the safety of the employees be prioritised,” Mbatha said.
The South African Municipal Workers Union was not available for comment.
Meanwhile the DA’s caucus leader and exco member in the city Thabani Mthethwa said while they had not been furnished with the figures indicating how much was spent on employee security, they understood the bill to be high.
“We know that when workers have to go to some areas they need to be escorted for safety purposes,” said Mthethwa.
The municipality’s acting spokesperson Mdu Ncalane confirmed that eight companies were contracted to provide security services to the municipality and that they escorted staff members when they went out on jobs.
He said there were 293 staff teams which were dispatched across the municipality, and that security was provided as needed to ensure the staff’s safety.
“It must be noted that the Roads Department requests the service on an ad-hoc basis, and it is isolated. The security service (escort) has been part of the services rendered since inception,” Ncalane said.
He added that the provision of security was done with the assistance of the police who determined the need for it.
“It should be noted that SAPS Crime Intelligence has a challenge with the lack of manpower to finalise their investigations timeously. In this case, the city manager can use his discretion to approve close protection to the officials while awaiting feedback from SAPS, depending on the seriousness of the threat,” Ncalane said.
He explained that an amount of R9003 673, 67 had been spent on security in the electricity department.
He appealed to community members to ensure that municipal workers were protected against any form of harm when they went about rendering services in different parts of the municipality.
Ncalane also pointed out that while these were isolated incidents in which municipal workers were attacked it was important to put a swift end to them in order to allow for the servicing of communities to take place without any hindrance.