Struggling KwaDukuza electricity department rings in structural changes
Change is sorely needed as energy losses have snowballed to more than R237-million in the past financial year.
KwaDukuza Municipality’s (KDM) beleaguered electricity department is making vital structural changes to address repeated energy loss problems and power outages.
Electrical department executive director, Sibusiso Jali, presented an updated departmental organogram (structure of personnel) to an urgent special council meeting last week Thursday.
This followed a week of power outages across KDM which compounded the hours of electricity outages already implemented by higher levels of loadshedding.
The changes are intended to remedy shortfalls in the current structure, while also preparing employees for the implementation of the supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) system early next year.
Changes in the department have been necessary for some time, with energy losses snowballing to more than R237-million in the last financial year amid a department vacancy rate of 42.29%.
Jali identified the main issues plaguing his department, chief among them being the vacancies, but also a lack of resources and proper training for employees.
This aside from poor clarity on roles, a structure that did not favour internal succession plans and directors spending more time ‘putting out fires’ as opposed to higher level planning activities.
It provided a dire picture of what the situation in the department has been and clearly indicated why losses had spiralled out of control.
Nevertheless, the changes could lead to major improvement if successfully implemented and were largely welcomed by the councillors in attendance of the virtual meeting.
Primarily, the filling of 26 prioritised vacancies at an annual cost of R7.6-million is the first step.
The job descriptions will be submitted within 30 days of the meeting and advertised, after which it is hoped the positions will be filled in the current financial year (ends June 2023).
Fifteen of those are new positions created as part of the organogram to more specifically target the department’s current shortfalls.
Of particular interest is a new planning engineer who will also act as a senior manager for the fleet, as well as the employment of eight ‘faultsmen’.
As the name suggests, the faultsmen will respond to faults and have specific roles and skills and should be able to fix problems on the grid faster.
Some will be new appointments, while others will be retrained artisans who fit the bill.
Similarly, the introduction of new sections such as the telecontrol and metering branch and the technical support branch, should formalise responsibilities for ease of work and oversight purposes.
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With a more structured shift system, it is also hoped that overtime costs – which previously skyrocketed – will be reduced, while increasing efficiency.
Jali said they had also reached out to FET colleges to prioritise future hiring of skilled graduates in relevant fields.
Councillors raised questions on how the department would function during the transition phase, how the changes will be implemented and the oversight of that process.
Jali committed to updating council on the process going forward.
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