Kimberley – The Sol Plaatje Municipality has spent R32 480 on hiring a car for the executive mayor, Mangaliso Matika.
The car hire, from Astra Travel, was one of the items included in the list of deviations from Supply Chain Management, included in a Sol Plaatje City Council agenda.
According to the motivation, the car was hired for the mayor while his official vehicle was in for repairs.
“Three quotations were requested from suppliers and only one responded to the request in the time that was available,” the motivation for the deviation states.
“Follow-up calls were also made without any success. Due to the fact that the mayor’s official vehicle was already in for repairs we needed to speed up the rental.”
Communications officer in the office of the mayor, Gregory Seleke, pointed out, in response to inquiries, that the official car of the executive mayor was in for repairs due to mechanical faults from December 19 2016 to January 16 2017.
“The rental car was used for the duration of this time and then returned.”
The cost of renting the car was R1 000 a day, plus 14 percent value added tax and R3 480 for service fees.
Seleke confirmed that the car was only used for official duties in the absence of the official vehicle.
During last week’s council meeting it was pointed out that the two official mayoral vehicles were eight and 11-years-old respectively.
The maintenance of both vehicles has also become expensive as they are no longer covered by a maintenance plan. A new car for the mayor has been included in the budget for this year.
Meanwhile, a further R32 775 was also included in the deviations for accommodation for three councillors to attend the South African Local Government Association national conferences from November 27 to December 2.
The three councillors who attended included the executive mayor and the Speaker and they were booked in at the Parktonian Protea Hotel for the duration of the conference.
In the motivation for the deviation, it was stated that requests for quotations from three different providers were submitted. However, only one quotation from Astra Travel was obtained.
According to Seleke, all costs for accommodation, transport and meals for the three councillors were covered by the municipality.