BY NOMALUNGELO BOOI
About 300 broken and damaged vehicles are piled up at the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s fleet department depots.
At the Deal Party depot, tyres are simply wheeled out by thieves as this facility, like others in the metro, is poorly guarded.Parts are also often stripped from damaged cars, bakkies and trucks.
City councillors have been left gobsmacked by the implosion of the fleet department, having witnessed broken vehicles gathering dust during several oversight visits this year.
Thieves walked off with 37 tyres, valued at R37,000, from the Deal Party depot sometime between September 3 and September 5.
The same depot was hit in July, when 44 tyres were stolen.The municipality is scrambling to find a solution and on Tuesday a turnaround plan was presented to councillors at a roads and transport portfolio committee meeting.
Councillors also demanded an update on the more than 40 municipal vehicles damaged due to negligent driving, dumped at the Deal Party depot since the beginning of 2022.
Municipal spokesperson Mamela Ndamase said an investigation into the tyre thefts was under way.
City councillors have been left gobsmacked by the implosion of the fleet department, having witnessed broken vehicles gathering dust during several oversight visits this year.
Thieves walked off with 37 tyres, valued at R37,000, from the Deal Party depot sometime between September 3 and September 5.
The same depot was hit in July, when 44 tyres were stolen.
The municipality is scrambling to find a solution and on Tuesday a turnaround plan was presented to councillors at a roads and transport portfolio committee meeting.
Councillors also demanded an update on the more than 40 municipal vehicles damaged due to negligent driving, dumped at the Deal Party depot since the beginning of 2022.
Municipal spokesperson Mamela Ndamase said an investigation into the tyre thefts was under way.
“The municipality together with police are investigating the theft of tyres,” she said.
“We have increased security patrols and visits to the depot.
“As the matter is still under investigation, no disciplinary action has been taken against any official.
“In an effort to curb such criminal incidents, the city has now secured a more secure space for the stock to be kept safe.”
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg confirmed the thefts.
“Investigations are ongoing,” she said.
The 300 vehicles are part of the city’s 2,500-strong service delivery fleet that ranges from sedans to light vehicles and trucks.
In a report outlining the turnaround plan, roads and transport acting executive director Givon van Eyck said the deterioration of the fleet department was attributed to various issues.
At the centre of the department’s challenges are staff shortages, the loss of work ethic and a lack of investment in fleet infrastructure.
“At present, the fleet department has over 300 vehicles in its various workshops waiting for repairs,” Van Eyck wrote.
“All these vehicles are critical instruments in the service delivery value chain.”
The report, dated September 14, also states that since its establishment 22 years ago, there has been no review of the fleet institutional arrangements.
“The environment has significantly changed over the past 22 years,” he said.
His short-term plan included:
Security assessment of all depots and improvement of security and access control;
Filling of critical vacancies;
Procure and streamline all repair and maintenance services; and
Centralise the storage of irreparable vehicles to provide space in workshops.
Addressing councillors, Van Eyck said while he was not present during previous oversight visits, he had met supply chain officials to discuss issues hindering the department.
“We recently had a meeting with the supply chain to alleviate some of the immediate challenges we’re faced with.
“We had a number of resolutions, one of which was repairs and maintenance, which is now being done and expedited to clear the backlog,” Van Eyck said.
He said the contract for specialist work had been cancelled due to challenges, but work continued to be sent to available contractors.
“The issue of the misuse of fuel is also being resolved, we are waiting for the commencement of the installation of the fuel monitoring system.
“We are also going to conduct sight visits and develop security plans.
“We will be dependent on security companies to manage our depots because there are issues with the internal security personnel.”
The report states that the department uses officials to carry out repairs and maintenance but has limited resources.
ANC councillor Gamalihleli Maqula demanded a report on the rampant theft and damage to municipal vehicles.
“In the last meeting we had with officials, we asked for an investigation into the stolen vehicle tyres but that report is not here,” he said.
“You can’t come with excuses and you equally can’t have drunk security guards damaging municipal vehicles and nothing is done about it.
“I won’t take part in the adoption of a turnaround plan until we get a report about what is being done about government vehicles that aren’t working.”
He suggested the adoption of the turnaround plan be deferred to a steering committee.
DOP councillor Florence Hermaans said the need to install tracking devices to monitor state vehicles was a clear indication that they were being abused.
“[Van Eyck] spoke about systems that are obsolete, and about devices that will be installed to monitor state vehicles in terms of fuel usage and whether municipal vehicles will be used for the intended purpose.
“All this is a result of abuse of municipal vehicles without any consequence management in place.”
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said the issues at the fleet department affected services across the metro.
“I am looking at the turnaround plan but there are no time frames to measure performance.”
DA councillor Buyelwa Jacobs requested a report that would show how many vehicles the city had and what they were used for.
Patriotic Alliance councillor Bradley Murray said while municipal departments were dependent on each other, in some cases it was used as an excuse for work not being done.
“If supply chain management is the problem, then we need to invite officials from that division to explain the reasons for delays in purchasing the vehicles we need,” he said.
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