READ with utter amazement the article entitled “Big packages, no appointments” in the Paarl Post on 7 February.
In a nutshell, the Drakenstein Council “paid R14 million in retrenchment packages three years ago to get rid of senior officials from the previous dispensation”.
Not only did this exercise cost the ratepayer R14 million, but none of the positions have been filled to date except for the post of Head of Electrical Services where the previously retrenched Engineer has been reappointed on an “acting basis”.
What stupidity is this? This exercise has cost a lot of money, has disbanded valuable skills and expertise and resulted in a number of unfilled, senior positions in the Drakenstein Municipality!
To quote from Mr Mbeki’s State of the Nation Speech earlier this month: “Critical vacancies should be filled within six months of such openings emerging”.
Yunus Naidoo, public sector director at Ernst & Young went on to say: “This appeal has to be made, it needs to be made. If posts are not filled, there will be a problem with service delivery.”
My question is why would an organisation intentionally rid itself of a number of experienced, qualified employees (at great cost) to end up in a position which will ultimately result in poor service delivery (not to mention the huge frustration to those ratepayers who will be totally inconvenienced!).
Grant Momplé
