Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has decided to spend R1.7m to purchase new vehicles for deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk and speaker Eugene Johnson.
The city has set aside R874,226 each for the deputy mayor and speaker’s offices.
A report tabled before council on Thursday showed the deputy mayor’s VW Tiguan had been deemed unsafe for use, citing repeated workshop visits and rising repair costs that rendered it uneconomical to maintain.
The vehicle was purchased in 2016. It has 266,100km on its odometer.
“The vehicle’s mechanical issues and its condition compromise the safety of the deputy mayor and negatively impact his ability to execute his functions effectively and efficiently. It is therefore recommended that the vehicle be withdrawn from service and a replacement vehicle be procured,” the report reads.
It found the vehicle used by Van Niekerk was unreliable for travelling long distances.
For the speaker’s office, the VW T-roc was found to be in a fair condition, but experienced “some” mechanical problems.
The 2023 model has 131,971km on the odometer.
The report was adopted with no debate.
According to the report, the municipal cost containment regulations stipulate that, regardless of usage, vehicles for political office bearers may only be replaced after 120,000km, implying that the vehicle was due for replacement.
“It is therefore recommended that a new vehicle be acquired for the speaker and the current one be utilised as a backup when one of the office bearers’ vehicles is in for service or repairs,” the report states.
The cars will be purchased using a 2022 National Treasury transversal contract, which is currently active.
The cost of purchasing the vehicles will be funded through Fleet Management Services’ capital budget.
There are currently no guidelines or policies governing the replacement of municipal vehicles, including those allocated to political office-bearers.
However, the Municipal Finance Management Act states:
- The threshold limit for vehicle purchases relating to official use by political office-bearers must not exceed R700,000 or 70% (VAT inclusive) of the total annual remuneration package for the different grades of municipalities; and
- The procurement of vehicles must be undertaken using the national government transversal contract mechanism, unless it can be procured at a lower cost through other procurement mechanisms.
Before deciding to procure a vehicle, the accounting officer or a delegated official must present the council with information on key considerations, including the condition of the current vehicle, the affordability of available options — such as purchasing vs renting or hiring — and the extent of service delivery backlogs.
Meanwhile, a municipal officer is under investigation after a vehicle assigned to the chief whip’s office went missing and later resurfaced with questionable repair work.
The Audi Q5 1 was involved in a suspected crash on March 2 at 11am after a close protection officer allegedly swerved to avoid an animal on the R367, veering off the road to avoid an oncoming car.
This is according to a report tabled at a safety and security committee meeting last month, which responded to questions from Ward 8 councillor Gustav Rautenbach.
The report included the insurance claim form, 87 questions submitted by Rautenbach and a letter from the metro’s security services acting chief of investigations and risk planning, Godfrey Otto, outlining the steps taken to trace and recover the vehicle.
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- The figure for the vehicle assigned to the deputy mayor’s office was incorrect and has since been updated to reflect the correct amount.
