Central SA
Mangaung Metro invests R55 Million in fleet to improve services─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 15:29 Tue, 14 May 2024
“We will be spreading these vehicles to all towns under Mangaung, and we hope they will significantly contribute to addressing our service delivery backlog.”
The mayor of Mangaung Metro unveiled a new fleet worth R55 million to tackle longstanding service delivery challenges.
The fleet, comprising eight flat deck bakkies, eight compactors/waste trucks, and 15 additional bakkies, were procured using the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG). “The procurement of new fleet aims to bolster the municipality’s capacity to address critical service delivery issues that have plagued the metro for years, said Mayor Gregory Nthatisi.
The unveiling ceremony took place at the metro headquarters in the Braam Fisher Building, Bloemfontein, on Tuesday (14/5) where Nthatisi emphasised the significance of this investment in improving service delivery. He acknowledged while the amount spent was substantial, it was merely a starting point, expressing the municipality’s intention to allocate more resources towards this intitiative in the future.
‘Our fleet will be deployed effectively’
“We will be spreading these vehicles to all towns under Mangaung, and we hope they will significantly contribute to addressing our service delivery backlog,” stated Nthatisi. “Our fleet will be deployed effectively to tackle waste collection issues and respond promptly to incidents such as leakages, ensuring our workers reach affected areas in a timely manner.”
The DA in the Free State has long criticised Mangaung Metro for its aging, poorly maintained, and inadequate fleet, citing these factors as major impediments to effective service delivery.
DA Councillor Tjaart van der Walt highlighted the dire state of the municipality’s existing fleet, noting that only ten working trucks were operational out of an ideal fleet size of forty.
The municipality’s service delivery woes were further underscored by a damning report from Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke, revealing a mere 2% of the infrastructure budget is allocated to repairs and maintenance.
In addition to the newly procured fleet, Mangaung Metro received a boost last year with a donation of R65 million worth of vehicles from Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment Maggy Sotyu.
These vehicles were donated during the launch of the Municipal Cleaning and Greening Programme and Separation of Waste at Source Pilot Project. Sotyu, also highlighted her department has been utilising part of the forfeited grants to reinvest in municipalities to improve service delivery.
