Fuel fiasco could leave metro exposed during severe weather conditions

An expired fuel supply contract has triggered service disruptions and raised concerns about the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s ability to respond to emergencies amid warnings that severe weather could wreak havoc in the city.

While the municipality insists contingency measures are in place and emergency services remain operational, councillors have warned the lapse has left the city dangerously exposed.

The contract expired on April 30.

Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said the metro had already started the supply chain management process ahead of the contract expiry date to appoint a new service provider.

“The process is currently at the bid specification committee stage, and is being prioritised and expedited to finalisation in full compliance with applicable legislation, including the Municipal Finance Management Act.”

He said interim procurement mechanisms were being activated, including approved deviations.

“These measures are under strengthened central oversight to stabilise fuel supply across services.”

He said limited service disruptions had occurred during this transition.

“Immediate corrective actions will be implemented, with fuel prioritised for critical and frontline services.

“Emergency and disaster response units remain operational, and contingency measures are in place to support service delivery, particularly in light of the forecasted adverse weather conditions.

“The municipality takes full accountability for ensuring continuity of critical services and has moved to strengthen internal planning and contract management controls to prevent a recurrence.”

Res­id­ents have been warned to pre­pare for dan­ger­ous and dis­rupt­ive weather as a power­ful cut-off low sys­tem bears down on the province, bring­ing tor­ren­tial rain, gale-force winds and wide­spread flood­ing in the days ahead.

Between 100mm and 150mm of rain was expec­ted over three days, accom­pan­ied by strong winds reach­ing 60km/h and gusts of up to 90km/h.

The South African Weather Ser­vice (SAWS) issued an orange level 8 warn­ing for the metro, which is in effect until midnight on Thursday.

Outraged councillors say the lapsed fuel contract has crippled services at the worst possible time, slamming the municipality for failing to plan for a known deadline.

Council chief whip and ANC councillor Wandisile Jikeka said the party was disturbed by the contract lapse.

“Vehicles can’t render services but we hope the acting city manager deals with the matter.

“As the ANC, we’ll demand consequence management because it was known when the tender was lapsing.

“We will now be talking about deviations.

“In parliament, we were hammered on deviations.”

He said the council had resolved that CFO Jackson Ngcelwane was the acting city manager.

“Until such a meeting rescinds that decision, he remains acting city manager until one is appointed.”

DA councillor Gustav Rautenbach said the expired fuel supply contract would have a devastating effect on service delivery and emergency responses.

He also wrote to the city manager’s office.

“Only vehicles that have fuel are still operational while others have come to a grinding halt.

“This is extremely alarming in light of the inclement weather warning issued for this week.

“Icy temperatures, strong interior winds, and severe storms bringing extreme rainfall, hail and damaging winds have been forecast for this week.”

He said a lack of petrol and diesel meant emergency personnel and disaster management teams might be unable to respond.

“In the event of power outages or flooding of streets, no emergency vehicles will be able to respond.

“The DA is deeply concerned that the most vulnerable residents, particularly those living in flood-prone areas, will be the hardest hit and may not receive the assistance they need during this critical time.”

GOOD councillor Lawrence Troon said the failure of basic administrative foresight had left emergency vehicles and essential service delivery fleets at a total standstill.

“It is an indictment on the leadership of this municipality that such a predictable administrative milestone was allowed to pass without a contingency plan or a new contract in place,” he said.

“The timing of this crisis is particularly perilous.

“With severe weather and storms predicted for the region, the metro is being left completely vulnerable.

“Without operational emergency vehicles, the municipality will be unable to respond to flood-related emergencies, road accidents or urgent medical needs during the anticipated adverse weather.”

He said residents’ safety was being gambled with due to a lack of proper contract management.

“It is unacceptable that critical services are paralysed while the administration scrambles to find a solution that should have been finalised months ago.

“This is a government that does not care about good governance.”

He said the municipality should have known the contract would expire.

“When it came to an end, a new service provider should have been appointed.

“We are bracing for storms, and emergency services must be on guard.

“Everything has come to a halt because of this.”

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