Tshwane fleet in ‘shambles’

The City of Tshwane will head to the high court to declare that a fleet management contract with a service provider never came into existence as the city’s fleet was left in a “shambles”.

Speaking at a media briefing in Centurion yesterday, MMC for corporate and shared services Cilliers Brink said: “Internal investigations into the contract, which left the city without vehicles, revealed Moipone Group of Companies were contracted to provide the service. But the contract also prevented the city from procuring fleet management services from other providers.”

He said when the multiparty government came into power in August last year, the new administration noticed that officials could not account for the location of thousands of owned and leased vehicles and hundreds of vehicles in need of repair and services stood idle at depots.

“A forensic report implicated a former service provider in corruption collusion with officials,” Brink added.

He said: “The relationship between the capital city and Moipone came from a public-private partnership (PPP) for the exclusive supply, repair and maintenance of city vehicles. Two other service providers were contracted under the PPP.”

But investigations further revealed that Moipone had never complied with a condition of providing a guarantee to the city and was able to pass through the “very rigorous” requirements that apply for PPPs in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act, Brink added.

“So the city ordered a forensic investigation into the procurement of the fleet. There are too many facts pointing to irregularity at the expense of residents.

“If we discover that the PPP was an attempt at state capture by politically connected tenderpreneurs, we will also cancel other agreements under the PPP. The days of local government state capture are over and this administration will not hesitate to take actions against officials who wish to compromise service delivery.”