Johannesburg - Four years after purchase, 17 Ekurhuleni metro refuse collection vehicles - worth about
R20 million - are gathering dust at the Alberton depot.
Now The Star has discovered that the department of waste management has budgeted a further R60 million to purchase even more such vehicles.
The investigation has also uncovered that some of the current specialised vehicles have had batteries and spare tyres stolen.
The vehicles were bought in the 2013/14 financial year. According to council documents, it will cost R10 000 to replace just one of the 17 missing tyres. The vehicles consist of Mercedes-Benz Cross 3332s, UD 80Bs and Alego 918s.
The Star recently gained access to the site where the vehicles are being kept - without being detected, due to lax security at the depot. The trucks are in single line formation, with most starting to rust and weeds growing beneath them.
The claims about the unused vehicles and the purchase of further trucks are confirmed by council-meeting minutes and documents, including pictures, seen by The Star.
The Star has been unable to establish if any of these vehicles bought in the last two financial years were ever used to collect refuse since they were purchased.
The batteries of the trucks have been taken. Picture: Babalwa Dhlamini/The Star
However, councillors in the oversight committee on environmental development in April last year arrived unannounced at the depot and made the grim discovery. Minutes of a subsequent meeting indicate that the committee raised concerns at the revelation, but almost a year after the visit, nothing has changed.
Despite the vehicles being bought in 2013 and 2014, they allegedly arrived at the depot in 2015.
“This was due to insufficient space at the Germiston depot,” minutes of the meeting said. “Upon arrival at the Alberton depot, each truck had its own spare wheel. The spare wheels were removed and stored in the storeroom. This was thought to be safer than leaving the spare wheels on the trucks, however, all spare wheels are now missing.”
The report indicated that the vehicles were not being used because the trucks were only chassis cabs without load bodies.
Last week, the DA conducted another oversight visit and discovered that the vehicles remained unused.
“While service delivery limps on due to the metro’s notorious bad planning and poor implementation, these vehicles stand idle and are not in service to alleviate the dire situation of dismal waste collection in the metro,” said DA spokesperson for environmental affairs, councillor Gary Scallan.
“Annual oil changes are mandatory and cost R12000 per vehicle - regardless if they are on the road or not.”
He added that of eight compactor vehicles servicing the suburbs of Alberton, only five were in operation - the rest were in for repairs. “Brand new vehicles, valued in excess of R20 million, remain unused in an open depot, depreciating in the blistering sun, slowly being vandalised and stripped by our own employees. All of this while residents await refuse removal and litter engulfs our pavements.”
Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile
Masina’s spokesperson, Gugu Ndima, said Masina was not aware of the situation but had instructed city manager Imogen Mashazi to provide him with an urgent briefing on what transpired with the trucks, as well as what the metro was doing to correct this.