Government disposes of vehicles when they reach a certain mileage, and a National Treasury tender to supply new vehicles closes next week.
Image for illustrative purposes. Picture: iStock
National Treasury has confirmed the auction house that will be responsible for releasing ageing assets in government’s vehicle fleet.
The South African government sets department-specific mileage caps for its fleet to determine disposal timeframes, and the vehicles to be auctioned include both operational and accident-damaged vehicles.
The first auction of government vehicles will be held on 9 and 10 July in Skukuza and could feature up to 150 vehicles used by a nearby national key point.
Replacement of the disposed-of vehicles is also managed by National Treasury, with a tender for the contract closing next week.
The RT46 tender has been a recurring transversal government contract and relates to several aspects of vehicle management.
Government fleet auction
The High Street Auction Company will facilitate the auction of thousands of government vehicles over the next five years.
The auctioneers were chosen from 52 bidders in a tender that closed in August 2025, with High Street’s Director, Lance Chalwin-Milton, confirming they were the sole outlet chosen.
“High Street is indeed the sole auctioneer appointed. At this stage, we are not sure how many vehicles will be sold, but believe that the government fleet could be as many as 180 000 vehicles,” Chalwin-Milton told The Citizen.
Figures shared by High Street state that 65 000 used vehicles were sold in December 2024 and January, with January’s figures up 11% from the previous year.
The combined value of recent sales exceeded R27 billion, with High Street noting that salvaged vehicles were highly appealing to the downstream motor repair industry and the informal sector.
“There’s a very vibrant market. In tough economic times, people are repairing and refitting older vehicles, boosting these markets,” said Ngwenya.
Treasury is in the process of procuring new vehicles via a tender that was due to expire on 29 May, but was extended to 12 June.
The RT57 tender requests bids to facilitate the “supply and delivery of sedan, light and heavy commercial vehicles, buses, motorcycles, agricultural tractors, construction plant and equipment to the state for a period of 36 months”.
No ‘lipstick’
High Street stated this week that preparations for the rollout required communication with roughly 1 200 senior government officials since March.
Auctions will be hosted in all nine provinces, with primary sites being in Johannesburg and Durban.
Salvage vehicles are broken into three categories based on their level of structural damage, with two of those categories featuring vehicles that are repairable.
“Fleet vehicles can be driven and moved. With salvage vehicles, nine times out of ten, you need a forklift, making logistics challenging.
“The yard spacing for fleet vehicles is much easier, while salvage cars come in all shapes and sizes,” stated High Street’s Fleet Division Managing Director Gift Ngwenya.
Chalwin-Milton said a portion of the auction’s proceeds would be returned to National Treasury.
Chalwin-Milton stressed that vehicles would be auctioned without “lipstick and plasters”, ensuring a detailed report prior to advertising.
“What you see is what you buy. Every car undergoes a full audit… we do a 100% checkpoint scan, which reveals the car’s condition and history.
“The scan – a series of pictures of both the outside and inside of the car – is uploaded to our database and generated into a detailed report,” said Chalwin-Milton.
Among the first vehicles on the block will be tourist passenger carriers and patrol vehicles used by South African National Parks.
