Probe widens into metro vehicle buys

eThekwini city manager S'bu Sithole Photo: : S'bonelo Ngcobo

eThekwini city manager S'bu Sithole Photo: : S'bonelo Ngcobo

Published Oct 22, 2014

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Durban - The eThekwini municipality has placed a moratorium on the purchase of city vehicles after a preliminary investigation found millions of rand worth of cars - 87 of them new - “gathering dust” at six depots.

Two city officials were hauled before disciplinary hearings in connection with the purchase of the vehicles while city manager, Sbu Sithole, has opened a criminal case with police.

This emerged on Tuesday at an executive committee meeting at which the city’s internal audit department revealed that a full investigation into the alleged irregularities surrounding the purchase of the vehicles needed to be carried out.

Phillip Ntsimane, the head of Internal Audit, said a wider probe into the alleged irregular purchase of the vehicles would require the services of professional consultants.

According to a report compiled by Ntsimane, 12 people in six teams would carry out the investigation for two weeks at a cost of R704 000.

The vehicles at the centre of the probe, some of which are specialised trucks used in the construction and repair of roads, have been lying unused at 28 depots across the city while officials have been hiring vehicles from contractors. It is alleged officials have irregularly auctioned some.

Sithole said the city needed to “act with speed” and that a wider probe into the allegations of corruption at the city’s fleet was essential to identify other officials who might be involved.

He said the city would not buy any new vehicles until the matter had been investigated.

Mayor James Nxumalo agreed. Nxumalo said he had conducted an unannounced visit at two city depots last weeks and saw first-hand new vehicles that were “gathering dust”.

He said that in addition to the probe, the city needed to install tracking devices in all its vehicles so that it could see who was driving what vehicle and for what purpose.

“These vehicles should not be used to drop your kids off at school and for personal use. We cannot allow that and we are going to deal with people (who transgress),” he said.

Deputy mayor, Nomvuzo Shabalala, said she suspected that some of the vehicles bought were a result of “fiscal dumping” when officials spend unused money from their budget on unnecessary purchases towards the end of the financial year.

“This cannot be allowed to happen. We could be using that money on service delivery to our people.”

Mdu Nkosi of the IFP said that the investigation should also probe the bank accounts of city officials to ensure that no “kickbacks” were given for the purchases.

DA councillor, Heinz de Boer, said senior managers in the city’s fleet department needed to account for the irregular spending.

“If this was happening under the noses of these managers, then it goes to a bigger problem in the city,” he said.

The Daily News reported in May that an audit report presented to Exco had revealed that 87 new vehicles, and 79 used ones awaiting disposal, were gathering dust at six depots across the city.

The new vehicles, bought for an undisclosed amount, have been kept at the yards since March last year, while the old ones, with a combined book value of R7.8 million, had been kept since December 2012.

Daily News

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