Mbombela Fire Station doused

Residents living in the jurisdiction of the City of Mbombela (CoM) are facing potential disasters following the attachment of some of the municipality’s firefighting vehicles.

With the festive season in full swing, it remains to be seen what will happen should a home or business have a fire emergency.

The CoM is also, according to its spokesperson, not even aware that some of its firefighting vehicles are not allowed to be used to respond to fire call-outs.

The crisis is due to the fact that the CoM owes Tunic Trading 104 R6.6m for projects that the company was appointed to do, and of which one was completed, in Matsulu.

These included the building of two roads, the Mountain View and the Nkululeko roads. According to Adv Aubrey Milazi, who has been representing Tunica Trading 104, the company was appointed for the construction of the Mountain View road through a subcontractor, Thenjwa Engineers and Projects.

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However, when they arrived on site, they were stopped from starting work by the previous contractor who was still owed money by the CoM.

This despite a cession already being signed between Tunica, CoM and Thenjwa Engineers and Projects in February 2023.

Following the signing, Tunica Trading 104 also bought an excavator for this job, and was now out of
pocket.

“Instead my client, Tunica Trading 104, was given instructions by the CoM and MJ Mthombeni Construction to build the Nkululeko road. The road had already been designed by a CoM consultant. However, it was not well designed and Tunica had to redesign the road at its own cost. The company then completed the contract.

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“Yet, when Tunica Trading 104 submitted invoices for the Nkululeko road job to the CoM, it was not paid in full.

“Tunica held several fruitless meetings with the municipality and provincial government regarding the outstanding payment.

“Hence, it had no option but to turn to the courts.

“The CoM then committed on September 13 to pay the outstanding money if Tunica Trading 104 withdrew the case.

However, this did not happen, so Tunica approached the Mbombela High Court on November 19, requesting that the sheriff seize assets worth the money that was owed to them. On Monday, December 9, the court ruled in Tunica’s favour, ordering the seizure of assets equivalent to the money owed to it,” said Milazi.

The following items were attached:

• Caterpillar worth R963 000
• MAN fire engine worth R900 000
• Nissan UD tanker worth R900 000
• Nissan UD tanker worth R100 000
• Mercedes-Benz fire engine worth R1m
• Mercedes-Benz 1428 worth R1m
• Nissan UD tanker worth R1.2m

The CoM will not be allowed to use any the above equipment until Tunica is fully paid. If it does not pay up, the assets will be sold on auction to recover the outstanding money.

“We are aware that all the fire trucks that we confiscated will put a lot of residents in danger since we are now in the festive season, especially if there is a fire or accident that needs the fire brigade, or there is a fire at any premises within the city. But Tunica had no choice since it tried to solve the problem in an amicable manner,” he said.

At the time of going online, the CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said: “I am not aware of this matter. Neither is the municipal manager, Wiseman Khumalo.”