The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality will take drastic action against the rampant misuse of official vehicles by government employees.
Currently, the City has in excess of 2000 vehicles in its vehicle register and these comprise of small cars, bakkies, trucks, motorcycles, trailers, mobile plant and civil engineering equipment.
It is important for the NMBM to create an environment where responsible handling of a municipal fleet is engrained within officials. The responsible handling of fleet means less vehicle downtime, reduced maintenance costs and an increased productivity and service delivery within the various functional areas where our fleet is used.
A report on investigations into suspected misuse of a fleet was tabled by the Infrastructure and Engineering Directorate at the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) meeting today.
This report, dated July 2017, shows instances where disciplinary action was recommended against officials and what action had been taken in this respect.
Through active citizenry, a total of 78 cases of suspected misuse of municipal fleet have so far been reported by the public.
Of these 78 reported cases, the investigations have led to recommendations for disciplinary action to be instituted for 52 of these reported incidents (66.67%).
Of these 52 incidents where disciplinary action was recommended, to date, only four officials have had disciplinary action instituted against them (7.69%).
Essentially, not enough is being done to ensure that suspects are held to account. This institution needs to act with greater swiftness and with a firmer hand to stamp out the prevalence of misuse of fleet.
The residents of this metro must be applauded for proactively reporting these incidents and we encourage them to continue performing this important role in assisting us to bring these suspects to book. It is always encouraging to see the residents of a municipality working hand-in-hand with council to ensure that any wrong-doing is stamped out of the institution.
The misuse of the fleet, as well as the lack of action taken against responsible officials will no longer be accepted and this will be closely monitored by MPAC. All responsible officials must be held to account.
Issued by NMBM
