Over 130 city police jobs unfilled

More than 130 positions within the Windhoek City Police remain vacant, primarily due to financial constraints, according to city police chief Leevi Ileka.

Ileka yesterday disclosed this shortage, saying the force requires between 130 and 140 new hires to mitigate the staff shortages.

“What I can assure is that the City Council is going to assist us to fill these vacancies so that we can do our job better,” Ileka said.

The city police currently has a manpower of about 450.

The municipality’s strategic executive for finance and customer services, Jennifer Comalie, yesterday during their 2023/24 budget announcement, said the city police department’s annual cost to the municipality currently stands at N$300 million.

Comalie said in order to address staff shortages, the department has been looking at other ways to curb crime cost effectively.

“They are looking at ways to utilise (the skills of) one officer. They are looking at multi-skilling so that the manpower can be used in various areas. There are a lot of initiatives currently underway to look at how to improve that service,” Comalie said.

BUDGET

Meanwhile, Comalie revealed an approved budget of N$5 billion for the 2023/2024 financial year.

This budget caters for operational expenditure and the capital budget.

The operational expenditure is primarily allocated to bulk suppliers like NamWater and NamPower, accounting for 48% of the budget, with salaries making up 32%.

Capital projects include second bulk power supply point (N$76 million), Rocky Crest load centre (N$50 million), informal settlement upgrading (N$41 million), council housing construction programme (N$32 million), Goreangab Extension 4 (N$27 million), civil services construction (N$19 million), northern suburbs collectors (N$16 million), direct potable reclamation Gammams (N$15 million), as well as supply, delivery, installation and commissioning (N$15 million).

PERSONNEL COSTS

The municipality’s biggest expenses are NamPower, which amounts to N$1,8 billion, salaries: 32% of the expenditure costing N$1,5 billion and water at N$527 million.

Comalie told the media yesterday that the wage bill of the City Police is over N$300 million.

According to the budget books, the allowances for the council amounts to about N$10 million.

Windhoek’s mayor receives N$858 954, the deputy N$763 375, management committee (MC) chairperson N$712 555, MC members N$2,7 million and ordinary councillors N$4,96 million. These amounts have been consistent for the 2023/2024 financial year and the same from the previous year.

Other personnel costs include medical aid at N$149,4 million, overtime at N$32,4 million, housing allowance at N$257,4 million and transport allowance at N$92 million.

The municipality has about 2 200 employees.

Comalie said the city’s employees have not received salary increases for the last four years.
Internships cost the municipality N$18 million annually.

FREE WATER

The City of Windhoek is struggling with a debt of N$1,2 billion, primarily due to residents’ arrears, which includes N$110 million for the ‘free’ water needy residents received at the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local authorities plummeted into debt in 2020 after the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development issued a directive stating that all residents should have access to water.

This was done as a relief measure to benefit needy residents – especially those living at informal settlements, who were financially hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions.

Comalie indicated that the line ministry will deal with the debt, but within their budget constraints.

PRIORITIES

Windhoek mayor Joseph Uapingene said the 2023/2024 budget aims to enhance service delivery efficiency, especially in the critical areas of water and electricity infrastructure, to meet the needs of the city’s growing population.

“We have tried to limit the financial impact on residents and kept the tariff increases in line with the previous year, despite the high inflation rate during the current year,” Uapingene said.