The DA in Ekurhuleni claims it has been warning the council for months about a potential fuel crisis which could threaten the lives and property of the metro’s residents.
The party said council is negligent in the extreme to fail to secure a steady supply of diesel and petrol for metro-owned vehicles across all departments.
An anonymous staff member alerted DA councillor Heather Hart to the impending crisis.
The employee said the situation was critical as some fire trucks, ambulances and EMPD vehicles could not even leave their depots as they were empty of fuel.
“Residents of Ekurhuleni are completely unaware that their lives and properties are endangered by this situation,” said Hart.
Since December 2013, DA councillor Bill Rundle has been raising his concerns with the relevant officials because as far back as the end of last year, the party was receiving reports of problems with the supply of fuel to metro-owned vehicles.
“In the early months of this year the lack of fuel was problematic for the Parks, Roads and Waste departments, during which parks were becoming overgrown, potholes weren’t being fixed and waste was not being collected,” said Hart.
“In January, stores – the heart of the metro’s supply chain management system – in Edenvale, Kempton Park, Lethabong and Tembisa, were all without diesel, and regional managers had to try to shuffle vehicles to various stores in order to be able to refuel them.
“This has an effect on productivity and overtime when vehicles have to travel long distances just for fuel.
“More worrying is that now, emergency vehicles are being directly affected with the lack of fuel reaching crisis point.
“This is not the first time that, nearing the end of the financial year, metro departments have been left scrambling to try and find fuel.
“The situation will not be resolved until July 1, the beginning of the new financial year.
“Even then, vehicles won’t be re-fuelled immediately while financial processes are put into place.”
Hart added that fire stations with fuel reserves were able to assist where they could until Wednesday when the stations would be under pressure to keep fuel for their own vehicles in case of emergencies.
“However, already some Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) vehicles have been put out of action in order to conserve fuel for such emergencies,” Hart said.
