Municipalities are often criticised for overspending on consultants, and much of it is warranted. Weskus Distrik’s CFO Dr Johan Tesselaar discusses circumstances when outsourcing makes sense and explains the relationship with their consultants.
“When skills are available in-house, but the work is still outsourced, it could point to the available skills being tied up on other priorities. Or you have availability but lack expertise in specialist areas of the project. It then makes sense to outsource for a specified period rather than make a full-time appointment which sits idle once capacity normalises. But if you have full capacity to deliver a project and you still outsource, then there’s a questionable break in your compliance and governance processes”.
A burning problem is appointing a person to do a job, but the appointee doesn’t have the required skills to perform. This has obvious cost implications – the employee’s salary and benefits coupled with consulting fees. Again, a questionable break in governance.
Weskus Distrik has achieved 14 consecutive clean audits, an environment of exemplary compliance and governance. Apart from solid recruitment and vetting processes, Dr Tesselaar believes that Weskus Distrik’s commitment to developing their people significantly reduces their use of consultants.
“It starts at grass root level by attracting a tranche of interns each year and then employing the best of them. At the end of their internship, they are steeped in our culture of accountability and performance.
“Continuous development is a culture which goes all the way to senior and executive management. They don’t rest on the laurels of their position or qualifications but continue growing, including obtaining their honours or master’s degrees. Apart from staying relevant in a changing world, this makes them better mentors to the younger generation”.
Dr Johan Tesselaar
CFO Weskus Distrik.
