GEOFF TOOLEY | Metro lacks full engineering staff complement but small team has done wonders

As the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa, we can confirm that NMBM currently has only one professional engineer, 14 professional engineering technologists and two professional engineering technicians, supported by five engineers and about 50 technologists and/or technicians. This team has done some amazing work with the limited resources available to them, and it is important to recognise and support this efficient team during these challenging times. However, the numbers are too small to support and maintain all the infrastructure in NMBM and the call to appoint engineers is supported.

The Municipal Staff Regulations (MSR) in South Africa, issued by the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), under the authority of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000, were formally introduced in 2021 to professionalise local government and standardise human resource practices across municipalities. Through these regulations, Cogta calls for a ratio of three technical service delivery staff members (engineers, planners, artisans) for every one support staff member (HR, finance, SCM, audit). I do not believe that there is a single municipality in the country that meets this requirement.

Some of the better run municipalities sit at a 1 to 1 ratio at present. When service delivery does not meet the required standard, the comments tend to paint all municipal employees with the same brush. The competency of the technical staff is brought into question without the understanding of the good work that is being done by a limited number of efficient staff under trying conditions.

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This has a demoralising impact on the technical staff who are doing good work. It is important that the community and the politicians understand the actual ratio of technical to support staff within the municipality where they reside and the technical competency that does exist within their municipality. It is also important that municipalities and all political parties work to rectify the imbalance and work towards the Cogta-defined ratio as this will turn the tide in service delivery.

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