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The Mercury reports that staff shortages, long hours, and additional duties not budgeted for are forcing the eThekwini Metro Police unit to spend up to R20 million each month on overtime pay. Since the beginning of the financial year in July, the unit has spent close to R80m, averaging between R19m and R20m each month.
The revelation has stunned opposition party councillors. The Head of Metro Police, Sbonelo Mchunu, detailed the challenges faced by the unit. He stated that staff shortages, additional mandates, and the unpredictable nature of policing work were contributing to the spiralling cost of overtime. He went on to explain: “The unit is assigned many duties that contribute to the overtime pay. We are tasked with protecting senior officials and councillors, which is not part of our mandate, and not budgeted for, contributing to the need for overtime.”
Mchunu added: “The work of police is unpredictable; for instance, if we are doing hawker enforcement, there is a lot of paperwork and processes that lead to working long hours and incurring overtime. If we are conducting enforcement, we incur overtime because the officer cannot abandon their duties while they are in progress as they are trying to avoid incurring overtime.” He said there were other issues, including inadequate recruitment. DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa was of the view that in recent year there has been a very concerning disconnect between overtime claimed by the Metro Police compared to the actual crime fighting and bylaw enforcement in the municipality.
Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thami Magubane at The Mercury
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page