City working on ‘worrying’ finances, accountant says

City of Windhoek accountant Samuel Mutonga says the municipality&#039;s loss-making bus services division and City Police should not be seen in isolation, but are rather part of its overall service delivery functions.He made the comments in response to the state of the City’s finances, which Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) councillor Jürgen Hecht described as worrying.According to Mutonga, a strategy to resolve the City’s financial problems will be shared with residents in due course. He added that the municipality is looking at responsibly reigning in its finances as part of initiatives going forward.“We are dealing with employees who have permanent contracts with council. Considerations on the table cannot be shared, but we are looking at the financial stability of the City.”During a meeting called by his co-councillor Ndeshihafela Larandja, Hecht revealed the status of the City’s finances, saying its bus services division had incurred a loss of N$70 million while the City Police’s budgeted N$230 million was unaffordable.Loss-making divisions“We are making a N$70 million loss in our bus services division. We’ve got an existing pool of 50 drivers; they all earn roundabout N$50 000 a month or N$600 000 annually. Only a certain number of these bus drivers are constantly working, about 20 of this 50 are on standby,” he said.The City Police is now also unaffordable, Hecht said, highlighting the need for it to be realigned with the Namibian Police.“The salaries budgeted for this new financial year for the City Police are N$230 million and that is 90% of its entire cost structure. We cannot afford a City Police of N$230 million in our current financial predicament.”The force currently has 440 employees, Hecht said.“Fact is, City Police together with the Namibian Police has duplication of services and this needs to be reviewed.”City Police peace officers were also earning twice as much as their peers of similar rank in the Namibian Police, the councillor said.

City working on ‘worrying’ finances, accountant says

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-28

Please login to leave a comment

City working on ‘worrying’ finances, accountant says

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-28

Please login to leave a comment

Login