DAMNING REPORT ON METRO’S BUSES

Internal audit paints dark picture of chaos, graft and non-compliance

A new report has painted a bleak picture of the Buffalo City Metro bus services, with some drivers spending protracted periods without the required documentation to operate public transport.

The damning report by the municipality’s internal audit unit is expected to be tabled in council on Wednesday.

Last month, the Daily Dispatch reported on a number of allegations that had been levelled at municipality’s beleaguered bus services.

These included that some drivers were pocketing thousands of rands and ignoring routes.

The allegations were made by former driver Deon Whittal, 54, who was medically boarded in 2016.

Now the report by the municipality’s internal audit unit reveals more findings after the unit conducted an investigation to establish whether all the bus tickets which had been issued were accounted for.

Some findings suggest that state fuel might have been stolen or wrongly used.

A part of the report notes that an “unknown vehicle” was filled up with 36l of diesel.

“No further details on the vehicle or persons fuelling the vehicle were recorded in the log book.”

The unit was requested to conduct an audit to establish whether all bus tickets issued had been accounted for against the sales and income for the bus service.

One finding was that outdated tickets had been used for the sale of tickets during the audit period.

“Variances were noted in the waybill and a recalculation performed by internal audit.”

BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya refused to comment on the contents of the report, saying that it was against the municipality’s policy to discuss reports that had not yet been tabled by council, discussed by councillors, responded to by the authors and a resolution taken.

The Dispatch has seen copies of the report.

During the audit review period for the 2017-18 financial year, it was noted that three buses currently in operation, could not be traced to the municipality’s fixed asset register.

“Directorates should ensure that all information per the asset register certificate is valid, accurate and complete, thus allowing the asset department to affect such updates/amendments to the asset register,” the report recommends.

The scope of the investigation also included testing the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls.

These included controls of the fleet and compliance with laws and regulations.

The internal audit unit found that some drivers did not even have Professional Driving Permits (PDP) as required by law.

“The PDP for [one] bus driver expired on September 20 2017. However, he continued to operate municipal buses and transport persons without valid PDP,” part of the report reads.

The municipal fleet management policy was last reviewed and approved in 2005, and the roadworthy certificate of a bus had expired.

In some instances, the tracker information for the buses could not be provided as the tracker was not operational or in good working order.

“Management should review the security of/access to installed trackers and where necessary enhance security measures to prevent unauthorised access/tampering. Tracking reports should be used as a preventative measure and not only to address past events.”

In one of the findings, 25 tracking reports were requested to establish alignment with approved shifts, time, routes and driver allocations and it was found that the driver appearing on the daily roster did not align to the driver in the report.

The internal audit unit found some drivers did not have PDPs