Despite assurances earlier this year that a new manager would start on November 1, the East London SPCA (EL SPCA) remains without a leader — a vacancy that may drag on for years, given the national shortage of qualified NSPCA inspectors.
It’s been almost three months since the vacancy for the EL SPCA manager was made available, and the managing committee believes that this position will not be filled before the year ends.
In September, the society announced that a manager had been appointed and would be starting in November.
However, this has since fallen through and Annette Rademeyer from the Qonce SPCA believes it may be a long time before the position is filled because of the skills shortage in the animal welfare sector.
Rademeyer said: “The ideal hire for a manager is someone with an inspector’s qualification because the manager needs to be able to have the requisite knowledge and experience to make decision to keep the staff safe because there are specific animal welfare problems in the East London area that are dangerous sometimes for the inspectors.”
Managing committee chair Nea Venter said the position would be advertised again and in the interim operations would continue with the staff available, which included one qualified inspector and one field officer.
National Council of SPCAs media liaison manager Jacques Peacock confirmed the dire shortage of qualified inspectors in the country and the adverse impact this played on finding suitable SPCA managers.
This has meant that some SPCAs in the country had been forced to operate for the last few years without a general manager, which placed more responsibility on existing staff and the managing committee, which is made up of volunteers.
Peacock added: “It is not compulsory in terms of the SPCA Act to employ a society general manager, but it does elevate the operations.
“We are fortunate that the EL SPCA management committee remains resolute in ensuring effective operations despite the vacancy.
“The SPCA is a community organisation at the core and with the community’s assistance, the EL SPCA should be able to function as normal,” Peacock said.
Venter explained that the appointed candidate declined the role after receiving a more attractive offer elsewhere.
She said: “We’re committed to delivering uninterrupted service and are grateful for the incredible support we’ve received from the community.
“We’ll find the right candidate in due time, but our mission continues.”
Despite Venter’s assurances that operations were running smoothly, a local resident told the GO!&Express that her cat, which had been missing was brought into the EL SPCA and had not been checked for a microchip upon arrival and was only check days later.
She said she asked why the cat had not been checked for a microchip and claims she was told that there was no manager available to do the process.
She said: “It is very frustrating that the EL SPCA is lacking a manager because my experience with not checking my lost cat for a microchip proves there is a lack of leadership.
“I was told that the manager checks the intakes for microchips and because there isn’t one it is just not being done.
“How many pets are not being reunited with their families because of this?”
Animal welfare organisation Furever Fixed expressed frustration over the continued vacancy of the East London SPCA manager position.
They feared that if the SPCA didn’t function optimally, the public would turn to smaller organisations like Furever Fixed without shelter facilities, adding extra pressure.
Furever Fixed emphasised that an incoming manager should prioritise transparency, consistent reporting, and a focus on fundraising to build public trust and support for the SPCA’s work.
The organisation said: “We appreciated the previous manager, Ian Lombard because he was willing to work with other welfares.
“We hope that when the new manager is appointed that this will enable the SPCA to be more amendable to releasing their statistics to the public so that people can become aware of how bad the animal welfare crises is in our town.
“We also need the SPCA manager to push for changes in legislation or bylaws that would make having unsterilised animals illegal.
“The new manager needs to work on establishing trust with the public through transparency because a closed off organisation will never be successful and will not bring in necessary donations and sponsors.”
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