THE DA’s caucus leader in eThekwini, Zwakele Mncwango is to make a formal request to council speaker, Logie Naidoo to institute a threat analysis for all councillors in order to determine which councillors are in need of protection and which ones aren’t.
Mncwango was responding to the increasing security expenditure for eThekwini city councillors which cost a whopping R3,4 million for VIP protection services in March.
In a media statement this week, Mncwango said the DA had revealed two months ago that the city had spent R3, 2 million in security related expenses for 22 councillors for this past January. “Of those, 22 are from the ANC and three from the NFP. The same councillors also appear on the March invoice, and as in January, the March invoice also shows that for each councillor eThekwini is billed almost R71 000 for VIP security while in a couple of cases the figure is more than R106 000, over R22 000 for a rented car and over R35 000 per driver.”
Mncwango said when the DA revealed the contents of the January invoice, Naidoo released a statement saying the costs for security guards were not inflated.
“According to information obtained by the DA, the VIP security staffers earn at most R10, 900 a month as a basic salary and they work 12 hours a day. This means they get R28 per hour from the company they work for which translates into a daily rate of R336. The company charges eThekwini R1 144 a day and nets 71 per cent of the bill paid by the city, while the staff get the remaining 29 per cent. Clearly Naidoo’s claims that these costs are not inflated are simply not true,” he said.
He said the DA will continue to call for the incorporation of VIP protection staffers into the city’s Metro Police department. “They should be providing these services at no extra charge as a cost saving measure. I will also make a formal request to Naidoo to institute a threat analysis for all councillors and report back on this so it can be clear as to which councillors are really in need of protection and which ones are not,” he said.
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Zwakele Mncwango
