THE Nelson Mandela Bay Traffic Department is currently facing huge speedbumps, with more than 200 vacant positions in the department and millions of rands lost due to outstan-ding traffic fine monies not being collected.

This affects law and order, as well as service delivery negatively, believes Gustav Rautenbach, DA Chief Whip and member of the Standing Committee over Safety and Security in the Metro.

“Because the traffic department is not functioning to its full capacity and not collecting all the income it should, I believe taxpayers in the end are paying more tax in order for the department to keep its head above water. This leads to poor service delivery, and the residents are not getting the service they deserve,” Rautenbach explained.

He added that vacant positions have huge implications for the department, as well as the lack of proper management, supervision and planning.

“People wanting to go for their driver’s licence for example, must wait months to get an appointment. This puts more pressure on the remaining personnel,” he said.

The Uitenhage and Korsten test centres are operating at 56% of their capacity. Of the 66 positions available, only 39 are filled, with 29 posts vacant. The Operational division functions at only 48.7% of their capacity, leaving 128 of the 310 positions vacant.

The shortage of personnel in turn leads to a significant increase in absence, because of sick leave, Hamilton Totoyi, Head of Traffic in the Metro, told Die Burger.

In the meantime, the traffic department’s inability to collect traffic fines on time, resulted in their losing more than R50 million in outstanding traffic fines, which they had to write off.

Rautenbach said that if all the vacant positions at the Uitenhage/Korsten test centres were filled, their current income of R15 million could more than double.

Some of these problems were also contained in a report that was discussed at a recent committee meeting of the Safety and Security department. During the meeting it was re-commended that all funded vacancies be filled as a matter or urgency and that the budgetary constraints with regards to the filling of the balance of vacancies be addressed as soon as possible.

It was also recommended that a proper work study be done to rectify the outdated organogram of this Directorate in order to address the inadequate staffing levels.