Durban - eThekwini Metro on Tuesday fended off rumours it was planning on buying a fleet of new mayoral cars.
This came after the official opposition claimed that the Mkhambathini Municipality planned to buy a new luxury car for mayor, Eric Ngcongo.
City manager, Sibusiso Sithole, said no new mayoral vehicles would be bought by the metro.
“Any speculation that the city will purchase a new mayoral fleet is absolute lies. There is no council decision to buy new vehicles,” Sithole said.
He said before any council vehicle was purchased or replaced, a conditional assessment was done.
This included ascertaining the mileage of the vehicle, mechanical condition and vehicle maintenance history. A report would then be sent to the relevant committee as well as the executive committee and full council.
“There must be compelling reasons for such requests prior to the purchasing of new vehicles,” Sithole said.
Meanwhile, DA councillor in Camperdown, Mkhambathini Municipality, Michael Wensley, claimed the Mkhambathini council had taken a decision to buy a new vehicle for the mayor.
“The new car is set to cost the public over R700 000, and its purchase relates to the mayor’s unwillingness to use his predecessor’s vehicle, a 2011 Mercedes. It is still not clear what luxury vehicle the mayor will buy with this budget,” Wensley said.
He claimed the decision to buy a new vehicle was made even though the council had not been furnished with information on the mileage of the old car and its trade-in value, among other things.
“This blatant disregard for the people, in a poor municipality grappling with high unemployment and deteriorating service delivery, deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” he said.
Attempts to obtain comment from the Mkhambathini Municipality were unsuccessful. Municipal officials made promises to get back to the Daily News on this matter, but had not done so at the time of publication.
Daily News