Fleet repossession in Emfuleni to worsen service delivery problems

The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has responded to the repossession of its Bidvest fleet, which was dedicated to emergency services.

The ELM fleet was repossessed on Wednesday afternoon, and included vehicles belonging to the traffic, fire, water and sanitation and electricity departments, according to ward 5 DA councillor Phillip Nothnagel.

READ MORE: Bidvest repossesses essential service vehicles from Gauteng municipality

It was initially alleged that the ELM defaulted on payments towards the fleet, but according to a statement issued by the municipality, the contract with the fleet provider ran its course and was not renewed.

“The contract ended in March this year, and the municipality has agreed to release the affected vehicles in batches back to the provider over a period of three months, starting in September,” the statement explains.

ELM also slammed rumours that payments towards the fleet were not being upheld. “For the record, the municipality paid the service provider R7 million on Wednesday.”

The municipality said it did not renew their contract with the fleet provider due to irregularities in the contract, adding it had since started the process of appointing a new fleet service provider.

For now, the ELM has assured residents that all municipal vehicles are in possession of the municipality, and that it will continue to attend to service delivery defects as best they can.

“Our service delivery teams are working as usual, [but] however [are] still faced with an existing shortage of vehicles.”

Because of this, the ELM said the turnaround time for attending to existing service delivery defects will unfortunately be affected. Affected delayed services include electricity, water and sanitation, waste management and traffic.

The recent repossession adds to existing woes in the area, including threats of scheduled power interruptions from Eskom, after the municipality allegedly failed to adhere to its repayment plan with the electricity provider.

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