Metro officials who abuse vehicles will now be hit where it hurts the most – their pockets.
This according to remarks by Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa during an unveiling ceremony of the metro’s new fleet in the city centre on Tuesday afternoon.
“We are very serious, because these vehicles have tracking and fuel management devices. We will know who will be driving it at a particular point, and in terms of managing fuel.
“There are going to be security mechanisms that we will install to ensure that there is responsibility in terms of who the driver is and where they are going.
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“We are looking at also hitting transgressors in the pocket, so if it is found that you were abusing a metro vehicle we will be docking your salary,” warned Mokgalapa.
He said the metro has different disciplinary measures to deal with transgressors but “because we did not have a system to diligently show us when it happens and where it is and pinning down the relevant person, we could not find the culprits.”
The new fleet comprises 329 vehicles, sedans, double and single cabs, minibuses and two armoured trucks.
Mokgalapa said the fleet was approved by council at a cost of R118-million, and if leased would have cost the metro R238-million over a period of five years.
The vehicles will be allocated to various departments and fitted with fleet management devices.
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“This will improve the metro’s capacity to better execute on its service delivery mandate. We are turning the tide against the status quo.
“This fleet is 100% city-owned and it is a deviation from historically unmanageable leases that disadvantaged the city. This is how we are building our in-house capacity.
“The city will no longer be paying exorbitant rentals, to the tune of R1-million monthly in some cases. Those days are gone.”
MMC for community safety, Karen Meyer, said she was excited as her department received 38 cars, two nyalas at a cost of R3-million each, Nissan and Toyota bakkies, sedans and high security vehicles which can be used for anything.
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Reiterating the mayor’s words Meyer said there would be consequences in place, “because there is unfortunately a lot of misuse of our vehicles.”
“There will be some management systems put in place to ensure that if someone drives a metro vehicle and their record shows they have been involved in two accidents, they can no longer drive a metro vehicle but can only be a passenger.
“We also have a committee for each department called risk assessment committee which determine if any driver of a vehicle has been negligent and if found guilty we have laws that allow us to dock the official’s salary,” said Meyer.
“That measure has never been put in place before, we are very serious as we need to protect city assets and it is expensive.”
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