Avis car rental withdraws fleet from City of Joburg amid delays to approve new contract

Avis car rental has withdrawn some of its rented fleet from the City of Joburg amid delays to approve a new contract, processes of which, according to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) McKinnley Mitchell, started in January.

This was revealed by ANC Joburg regional chair Dada Morero, who on Wednesday slammed the DA-led multiparty government for “compromising the ability of the City to maintain road safety during the festive season”.

JMPD cars

Morero shared pictures on social media on Wednesday, where several Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) vehicles can be seen being stripped of their blue lights.

While DA councillor Leah Knott said this only affects the city’s 4 253 “non-specialised” fleet – cars, bakkies, police cars, City Power trucks, Joburg Water bakkies and trucks that are driven by City of Joburg officials from all departments and entities – Mitchell explained that 2 194 of these are JMPD vehicles.

“Some vehicles are being withdrawn, but not all. We don’t have actual numbers right now,” said Mitchell.

Fire engines

The tender for fire engines (red fleet) and the Pikitup waste management fleet, however, is separate from the non-specialised fleet tender, he said.

“This contract had been awarded to Avis and Afrirent under a tender which in 2020 National Treasury declared irregular and ordered the City to cancel it and do a thorough forensic investigation. The ANC government at the time did neither, and took no steps to start a new tender process,” said Mitchell.

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“We inherited this mess from the ANC; an irregular contract that had been constantly extended and no investigation done. There is an investigation underway to establish whether Afrirent had made payments to politically-linked individuals, and a simple glance at the numbers showed that the City was not getting value for money.”

“The new tender process started in January 2022, and due to its high value (over R2 billion) and time period, we had to consult the public.”

While the last extension of the Avis and Afrirent non-specialised fleet contract was terminated at the end of October, the DA said it presented a proposal to council to make arrangements for the fleet to remain in place until investigations are concluded.

“However, the report was recently rejected by the ANC in the programming committee, and so it was stopped from serving in council,” said Mitchell.

The City said it hopes to make a “positive announcement” on the matter soon.

City of Joburg short-term loan

After the City of Joburg’s council unanimously rejected a proposal for a R2-billion short-term loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) last Friday, Morero told The Citizen‘s Lunga Mzangwe that the loan request didn’t make sense since as the interest rate would be too high for the City to pay back.

“[The DA] insisted there’s enough cash in the City and there’s no need to worry. In fact, the ANC raised this matter as early as July that the budget was under funded by at least R3.5-billion at the time so we raised concerns and they never took us seriously,” he said.

The metropolitan’s mayor Mpho Phalatse had called for an urgent sitting for the City’s councillors to vote on the loan request.

This came after Phalatse conceded that the City’s finances were “not in the best position” and indicated that the multiparty coalition was seeking council to approve the short-term loan.

Although the mayor says the City was still able to meet its financial commitments, the ANC claimed that the metro was on the verge of financial ruin and predicted that municipal workers would not be paid in January. 

READ MORE: ‘DA must come clean about City of Joburg’s finances’: Councillors snub R2 billion loan bid

Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa