Durban - More than half of the thousands of vehicles currently owned by the eThekwini Municipality need to be replaced within the next three years as they are past their useful lifespan and break down regularly, which undermines service delivery.
It emerged recently that the city needs to spend millions of rand to replace some of the cars it owns as they are old, break down often and cost even more to fix, which all affects the city’s ability to deliver services.
EThekwini Municipality Head of Communications Lindiwe Khuzwayo said: “EThekwini Municipality has a fleet of approximately 8 500 comprising various vehicles and plant categories.”
She said each vehicle category type had a replacement cycle depending on operational usage e.g. a 10-ton tipper truck had a replacement cycle of 12 years, and higher usage vehicles such as those of the metro police had a replacement cycle of eight years.
Khuzwayo said that in an ideal environment an average of 850 vehicles should be replaced annually. Historically, there had been insufficient budget to address the vehicle replacement programme due to competing service delivery needs.
“In terms of the replacement programme for the Parks Unit and metro police, there are approximately 1 000 vehicles due for replacement for the next three financial years, including the current financial year. This includes the backlog accumulated over the years as well as vehicles due for replacement for the stipulated financial years.
“In terms of the replacement programme for the entire City excluding Parks Unit and metro police, there are approximately 4 000 vehicles due for replacement for the next three financial years. This includes the backlog accumulated over the years as well as vehicles due for replacement for the stipulated financial years,” she said.