One of the companies involved in the City of Johannesburg’s fleet management saga has denied withdrawing its vehicles used to deliver municipal services, saying it was a victim of a political war ravaging the city.
Senzo Tsabedze, CEO of fleet management company Afrirent, which provides the metro with more than 2,600 vehicles used by the city’s entities including JMPD [metro police], Johannesburg Water, Pikitup, Metrobus, Emergency Management Services, City Parks and Joburg Roads Agency, said on Monday the company had taken a decision not to ground its fleet contracted to the municipality.
Tsabedze said the saga over the vehicles was “a contractual issue and had nothing to do with [non] payment. “We are caught in-between, we are being used for political point [scoring]. It’s an unfortunate situation.”
He said his company took a conscious decision not to be part of the “political chairs that they are playing ... we can see what is happening, it’s a political game between two political parties”.
This, he said, was aimed at ensuring that service delivery was not affected as the vehicles are crucial for providing services to the metro’s 6-million residents.
“We have pledged to sign another extension with COJ [City of Joburg] so that residents can continue to receive the necessary services from the municipality without fear of [interruption],” Tsabedze said.
Last week, the ANC alleged car rental firms Afrirent and Avis had withdrawn their vehicles from the DA-led Johannesburg metro because the cash-strapped council was struggling to service the contract.
If effected, the withdrawal will hinder the city’s ability to fulfil its policing duties and waste collection, as well as its ability to respond to the water challenges that confront residents daily.
Avis directors could not be reached on Monday as they were said to be in meetings all day.
However, the MMC for group corporate and shared services, Leah Knott, said Avis had withdrawn not more than 50 vehicles due to a contractual issue. “The contract expired at the end of October. It’s not due to money owed to them,” she said.
A report calling for a deviation to extend the contract was “blocked in council”, she said.
“Only 47 vehicles out of the combined non-specialised fleet have been affected by withdrawals by service providers. This just demonstrates the importance of the fleet contract to the ANC, and the hypocrisy of their claims of financial instability of the city,” Knott said.
Knott said the current status of “grounded vehicles” consisted of “17 out of the 124 JMPD vehicles rented from Avis, and 30 of the 306 of the Joburg Water vehicles rented from Avis. In terms of Joburg Water, the city has 306 vehicles with Avis and 373 with Afrirent.
“In terms of JMPD, the city has 124 vehicles with Avis and 1,176 with Afrirent. This equates to a substantial amount still currently in use for service delivery,” she said.
Tsabedze’s remarks come after the DA-led municipality dismissed claims by the ANC that the metro’s two fleet management contractors, Afrirent and Avis, had withdrawn over 400 vehicles due to nonpayment.
ANC Joburg regional secretary Sasabona Manganye recently said Avis had begun a process of “recalling vehicles currently leased to the city through a fleet-contractual arrangement”.
“Among the over 400 vehicles currently being withdrawn are a significant portion of vehicles utilised by the JMPD’s highway patrol, by law enforcement and high-risk units. The Pikitup and Johannesburg Water fleets are also among the affected vehicles,” Manganye said.
Manganye claimed that Afrirent had also withdrawn its services due to “nonpayment by the city”.
The ANC and the DA, the largest parties in the metro, have been at each other’s throats since Joburg fell under a DA-led multiparty government after municipal elections a year ago.
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