NELSPRUIT – A woman has tried in vain to get clarity on how her motorcycle was auctioned off by Mbombela Local Municipality – without her knowledge. In August this year ms Colette Dreyer (30) received the news that a scooter she bought a few months earlier had been impounded by Mbombela Traffic for allegedly not having license plates. The scooter was parked near the Promenade at the time. According to her, the bike was used by her housemate to go to the bank on the day in question. When the housemate returned from the bank he noticed the scooter was missing. He approached the traffic department who told him they had impounded the bike. He was told to contact Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) to make arrangements to get the motorcycle back.
Shocked at the news, Dreyer contacted the MLM the following morning and was told that her motorcycle was taken to the auctioneers. It would be sold there for a R1 000.
“I was given the number of the auctioneers by a gentleman by the name of Bobo Zitha, Fleet Manager of Supply Chain Management. They told me that the motorcycle was on a list of vehicles they received that were to be sold on auction,” said Dreyer. “How is it possible to sell a vehicle without its papers, or how could you sell something without informing the owner?”
The motorbike was subsequently sold and Dreyer was now left without a means of transport. Distraught, she spent her days being pushed from pillar to post in an attempt to get her vehicle back or at least get to the bottom of the situation.
She was eventually advised to speak to mr Phanuel Mokoena, Chief Superintendent of Public Safety.
“During our meeting Mokoena told me that he would write a report to his superiors about the situation and that it was a terrible mistake. He also said that council should give me money or a new bike to replace the one they had wrongfully sold.”
Three months later she still has no motorcycle and still has come no closer to an answer. Mokoena allegedly told her that he had no recollection of a meeting with her, nor of a report on a missing scooter. “I told him that I would take the matter to the media to which he replied that he is not scared of the media and that I am welcome to do so.”
At the time of going to print no answer had been received from the MLM Communication Department on questions related to the act of impounding a vehicle or how Dreyer should proceed to get her property back. The questions were sent to the department on Monday afternoon. Attempts to contact Mokoena and Zitha were all to no avail.
