Unpaid bills leave Cape cop
cars idle
October 16 2013 at 09:42am
By Murray Williams
By Murray Williams
CAPE ARGUS
Dozens of
official police vehicles, both marked and unmarked, wait to be repaired at True
Bore Automotive Engineering in Epping. Picture: David Ritchie
Cape Town -
Dozens of
broken police vehicles are gathering dust in Western Cape workshops – some
since April – while many police stations routinely suffer a crippling shortage
of vehicles.
And two workshops
claim the police owe them a total of R436 000 in unpaid vehicle repair bills.
They are refusing to release any repaired vehicles or fix any of the others
until they are paid.
Now the
provincial Community Safety Department has launched an investigation. Concerned
owners of engineering and mechanical workshops approached Community Safety MEC
Dan Plato this week to plead with him to exercise his oversight over police on
the matter.
On Tuesday, the
Cape Argus visited two sites where workshops and warehouses were packed with
police vehicles in various states of disrepair.
At DSP
Engineering in Bridge Street in Plankenberg, Stellenbosch, about 20 police
vehicles had gathered a thick layer of dust in two warehouses and a workshop.
At DSP
Engineering in Bridge Street in Plankenberg, Stellenbosch, about 20 police
vehicles have gathered a thick layer of dust in two warehouses and a workshop.
Picture: Murray Williams
CAPE
ARGUS
Owner Donovan
Parks, who has been repairing police vehicles for four years, said some of the
vehicles had been there since April.
They included
two VW Golf GTi’s, used by the Flying Squad. Other vehicles’ were from as far
afield as Knysna, Prince Albert and Velddrif. But Parks said he could not
continue to repair them as he had still not been paid for half a dozen other
police vehicles he had already repaired and delivered to the police. He said he
was owed R36 000.
At another site
in Elsies River, another 30 police vehicles were found parked at a business
specialising in engine re-bore rebuilds, gearbox, clutch, cylinder head and
overhaul of differentials. Some of these vehicles had been there since March.
Staff at the
company, who did not wish to be named, said there were about 10 repaired police
vehicles and five engines ready for delivery as soon as they were paid for. The
company was owed around R400 000 in connection with the 30 vehicles.
Another company
said it had two police vehicles at its premises. One had been repaired, but
would not be released until it was paid for. The second vehicle would be
repaired only once the company had been paid for the first vehicle.
Plato was given
a list of companies which he was told were subcontracted by a company in
Joburg.
He was told
this company got the contract in March to repair police vehicles in the
province, and that the difficulties began then. One company said it had been
battling to get payment “for months”.
The name
provided to the Cape Argus was “Fleet Maintenance Specialist Ukhamba Management
Consultant”, and read “Ukhamba Fleet Maintenance” on letterheads.
A staffer told
the Cape Argus the business was owned by Ronnie Pillay.
When reached,
he said: “We’re actually from Johannesburg. We were awarded the tenders for the
Western Cape and the Northern Cape, but this was a new thing. But it’s too
expensive for us to ferry the vehicles up and down. So we’ve subcontracted the
vehicles out to eight or nine businesses in the Western Cape.
“But since
October 2 we’ve had our own workshop in Ottery, and we’re working late nights
and weekends to try to get through the backlog.”
Pillay promised
the vehicles at the sites visited by the Cape Argus would be paid for “shortly
– hopefully by the end of the month”.
Ukhamba is also
the name of the empowerment partner of the Imperial group of companies, which
includes fleet management. But staff at Imperial said Pillay’s company had no
link to Imperial.
Several sources
interviewed by the Cape Argus questioned why Pillay’s company had won a tender
in the first place when it had had no workshops in the Western Cape.
Plato said in
response to news of the delays to the dozens of vehicles’ repairs: “The lack of
police resources is a serious issue and I am highly concerned that dozens of
police vehicles appear to have been out of operation for the past several
months when they are desperately needed in many areas across this province.
“I will be
writing to the national minister of police so that this can be urgently
investigated. The allegations about non-payment and irregular tender procedures
must be investigated as our police need their vehicles to keep our communities
safe.”
Police
spokesman Colonel TembinkosiKinana told the Cape Argus: “These delays do not
relate to the failure by the police in paying the supplier. Rather, the police
suffer as a result of internal disagreements within the supplier itself with
its subcontractors.
“The police are
currently taking the matter up within its internal structures to review its
relationship with the company responsible for these problems.
“The police are
doing everything possible to ensure the problem is alleviated and that in the
process, service delivery remains unhampered by these unfortunate
circumstances,” said Kinana.
Cape Argus
