City’s vehicle department on road to disaster

The wheels have well and truly come off at the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s fleet depots. About 300 broken and damaged vehicles are piled up at the depots, awaiting repairs. What it means is that out of a fleet of 2,500, about 300 vehicles are not on the road providing critical services to the public. And if that was not bad enough, at the Deal Party depot, about 80 tyres were simply wheeled out by thieves as the facility — like many others in the metro — is poorly guarded.

And what’s even more shocking is that the city is unable to say when exactly these tyres were stolen.

It is mind-boggling that these very basic matters of good governance have fallen into disarray.

The fleet management department has become progressively worse — with roads and transport acting executive director Givon van Eyck saying things have deteriorated over the past 22 years.

Not only is there no proper system in place to know who is using which vehicle and at what time, there is no adequate fuel monitoring system in place, which means it is a free-for-all.

And this is at the ratepayers’ expense. Councillors on Tuesday demanded answers as to what the turnaround plan was.

Though Van Eyck mentioned a list of short-term initiatives, they do not inspire any confidence that the situation will be turned around any time soon.

But this is not Van Eyck’s fault alone — or that of the team he leads — it is a culmination of years of administrative decay and political turmoil that has permeated every division in the city.

When those at the very top act with impunity, and politicians continue with their tedious power battles, the nuts and bolts that are meant to be holding the wheels of the vehicle that is our city have come off.

There will not be consequence management and the situation will continue to deteriorate until there is political stability and decisive leadership in the metro.

We are not holding our breath that things will change any time soon, especially if one looks at the never-ending council shenanigans.