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It’s a BMW for speaker and a Merc for the mayor in ‘R1bn’ fleet deal

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Mercedes-Benz GLE 250
Mercedes-Benz GLE 250

After spending R100 000 a month on a rented car for its mayor, the Madibeng Local Municipality, North West, is now selling its fleet and has leased nearly 150 vehicles, without going to tender.

The municipality has committed to paying more than R7.2 million a month to a vehicle leasing company – including bakkies, trucks, loaders and luxury cars for both the speaker and the mayor.

City Press obtained a list of vehicles to be leased to Madibeng, of which speaker Kabelo Ntshabele will receive a BMW X3 that will cost R25 498 a month, while Mayor Jostina Mothibe will receive a Mercedes-Benz GLE 250 that will cost the council R28 088 a month.

The company is, in some cases, charging more than double the average instalment on the vehicle if the municipality were to buy them.

In one case, Madibeng was billed R10 145.61 a month for a Nissan NP200 bakkie, which costs R147 900 brand new and would cost the average buyer R4 900 a month over three years.

At the end of its three-year contract, the municipality will have spent R365 241.96 on the vehicle.

City Press understands that Madibeng municipality intends to sell its vehicles on auction soon.

The multimillion-rand contract has caused problems with Madibeng, which has been marred by service-delivery protests in recent weeks.

For three weeks, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) took to the streets accusing the municipality of being a “breeding ground for corruption”.

Samwu provincial secretary Vincent Diphoko said that according to the lease agreement, “the municipality will be solely responsible for the service and maintenance of the fleet, thus bringing the total cost to be incurred by the municipality to over R1 billion”.

“We therefore call on Cooperative Governance Minister Zweli Mkhize to urgently intervene in the municipality, as he promised after being appointed.”

Municipal spokesperson Tumelo Tshabalala said the union was misleading the public and that there was nothing unlawful in the awarding of the contract without going to tender.

“The leasing of the vehicles was aimed at increasing service delivery,” he said.

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