Metro police’s money matters

NELSON Mandela Bay councillors will tomorrow discuss where to get additional funding for the planned metro police.

At a press conference yesterday, mayor Ben Fihla said plans were on track to have the 900 metro police on the streets in July.

Safety and security portfolio chairman Thembinkosi Mafana said he would present to the committee details of where to secure funding for the force.

The municipality wants to combine the budgets and manpower of its traffic and security services to form the metro cops.

But acting executive director of safety and security Shane Brown earlier this week said the two budgets would still not be enough to fund the force.

“Details [of where to get the additional funding] will be revealed at the standing committee on Thursday,” Mafana said.

“We might struggle with uniform funds, but we will get it [money] from [funds generated from] the IPTS [Integrated Public Transport System],” he added.

Fihla told the media: “Some of the required staff have already been trained by the municipality. We have existing infrastructure that can be used for the operation of the new [metro] force.

“In my inauguration, I reiterated the fact that executive directors will be employed by June. The city manager [Dr Lindiwe MsenganaNdlela] is working on the process plan to ensure that, by July, we have executive directors in place,” he said.