The DA says it is negligent in the extreme to fail to secure a steady supply of diesel and petrol for metro-owned vehicles across all departments.
An anonymous staff member alerted DA councillor Heather Hart to the impending crisis.
“The employee said the situation was critical, as some fire trucks, ambulances and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) vehicles could not even leave their depots, as they were empty of fuel,” says Hart.
“Residents of Ekurhuleni are completely unaware that their lives and properties are endangered by this situation.”
Since December 2013, the DA’s Clr Bill Rundle has been raising his concern with the relevant officials because, as far back as the end of last year, the party was receiving reports of problems with the supply of fuel to metro-owned vehicles.
“In the early months of this year the lack of fuel was problematic for the parks, roads and waste departments, during which parks were becoming overgrown, potholes weren’t being fixed and waste was not being collected,” says Rundle.
In January, stores – the heart of the metro’s supply chain management system – in Edenvale, Kempton Park, Lethabong and Tembisa, were allegedly all without diesel, and regional managers had to try to shuffle vehicles to various stores in order to be able to refuel them.
Rundle says it has an effect on productivity and overtime when vehicles have to travel long distances just for fuel.
“More worrying is that, now, emergency vehicles are being directly affected, with the lack of fuel reaching crisis point,” he explains.
“This is not the first time that, nearing the end of the financial year, metro departments have been left scrambling to try to find fuel.”
According to Rundle, the situation will not be resolved until July 1, the beginning of the new financial year.
“Even then, vehicles won’t be refuelled immediately, while financial processes are put into place,” he says.
“Fire stations with fuel reserves were able to assist where they could, until Wednesday, after which the stations would be under pressure to keep fuel for their own vehicles in case of emergencies.”
“However, already some EMPD vehicles have allegedly been put out of action in order to conserve fuel for such emergencies.”
Hart says it is an utter disgrace that the metro could not get its supply chain management policy correct and properly streamlined in accordance with the country’s municipal finance laws.
“If the DA were in charge, a simple matter of proper planning would ensure that no departments faced these kinds of avoidable problems and that reaction times were available before crises were reached.” – @IschkeBoksburg
