The Tshwane metro will eliminate R400-million in vehicle leases as part of its fleet strategy after launching a fleet of 161 new municipal vehicles on Tuesday, May 28.

This comes after it embarked on a comprehensive fleet strategy in 2018 to reduce its reliance on fleet service providers.

The newly-acquired vehicles consist of sedans, double-cab and single-cab vehicles and are for the sole use of the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) and regional service delivery operations, such as Tshwane Ya Tima.

Mayor Cilliers Brink said the purchase of new vehicles is part of the metro’s ongoing effort to reduce expensive lease costs and procure its own vehicles.

He said while the city still has not achieved its ideal officer-to-vehicle ratio for the TMPD, the latest addition of vehicles owned by the metro will improve this ratio and boost the TMPD’s overall capacity.

He added that he is happy the metro now has vehicles for water and electricity to provide better services in regions 1 and 2, such as Soshanguve, Mabopane and Hammanskraal.

“Buying our own vehicles is important because it’s a way of saving money for the taxpayers of the city, and another important aspect is that we have to look after these vehicles like they are our own,” he said.

Brink urged TMPD officials to take extra care of the vehicles so that they could serve residents effectively.

MMC for Community Safety, Grandi Theunissen, explained residents would often complain about not receiving help from the TMPD because when they called in, police officers always said they don’t have a vehicle.

“It makes me happy to say that I am sure that this problem will be solved,” he said.

MMC for Corporate Shared Services, Councillor Kingsley Wakelin, said the current phase of their fleet strategy eliminates R400-million in vehicle leases and allows the metro to take ownership and control of its fleet.

“After a thorough analysis of the number of vehicles we were leasing and the costs involved, we began to exit these leases and buy our own vehicles.”

He said in December 2022, the metro launched 238 new vehicles that cost R100-million, allowing them to save R200-million in terms of leased vehicles.

Wakelin added that their latest launch of 161 vehicles also represents a saving of R200-million as the metro no longer relies on external leases.

According to the office of the MMC, the majority of the vehicles will be distributed among various departments in the metro, while six vehicles apparently are insurance replacements.

The allocation breakdown is as follows:

– 80 vehicles will be allocated to the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD).

– 15 vehicles will be assigned to the Tshwane Ya Tima operations.

– 5 vehicles will be dedicated to traffic light maintenance.

– 45 vehicles will be allocated to the water and electricity departments.

“I would like to commend the fleet management team under Musa Khumalo, including Adolphus Madonsela, Philani Dlamini and Karabo Morake, for their dedication and hard work in achieving this turnaround,” said Wakelin.

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Chief of TMPD, Yolanda Faro, shared that she was happy that the police department had received 80 vehicles that would help them serve residents in the communities and reduce crime in the streets.

“I am thankful for the effort of the fleet department and how quickly they managed to give us the vehicles, which will help us get ready for the national elections,” she said.

Faro said there is a committee in place to monitor how police officers use the vehicles, and she urged them to use the vehicles as they would use valuable belongings that don’t belong to them.

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