Let me first take this opportunity to thank the members of the media for attending this historic event, when we are showcasing the good progress that we have made as Provincial Government to improve the management of our fleet services.
This arrangement is in line with the concept of the developmental state, which encourages the improvement of the technical capacity of the state so as to encourage the in-sourcing of government operational services.
This is the seventh month since we took back this service as the Eastern Cape Department of Transport on behalf of the entire provincial administration and it is gratifying to witness such an indelible progress, which includes the following:
- The appointment of personnel on critical vacant posts, including a Financial Director with two managers, a manager for Vehicle Maintenance, manager – User Support and a manager for Risk Management. The entity has an approved structure of 110 staff members of which 49 posts were identified as critical. The recruitment process is still underway. In the meantime, additional 2 senior managers and 1 manager were seconded from the department and two seconded officials from Provincial Treasury went back in April 2012.
- A Plan B has been implemented with the transfer of (8) staff members from the department’s Government Fleet Unit (included in the 49 critical posts). We also have 14 Interns on our Internship programme.
- The entity has made payment of R241 million for 1880 as part of the “buy back” option. Subsequent to that we have paid R15 million for 80 vehicles which brings a total amount paid to R256 million for 1 960 vehicles as buy backs.
- For the “buy up”, we have purchased 77 ambulances worth R7.7 million from Fleet Africa. New 97 vehicles have been also been purchased, including 24 sedans for traffic law enforcement, which were handed over in April 2012 to improve the visibility of traffic officers on our roads. The remaining figure is made up of 9 minibuses, and LDVs (bakkies) for emergency medical and rescue services. These bakkies have been converted to ambulances by a local company and today we are handing over the first 20 vehicles to the Eastern Cape Department of Health in order to reduce the shortage.We are expecting the other 20 ambulances to be delivered within Thursday 30 August 2012 and will be delivered on 20 September 2012.This is the beginning for Emergency Services we are targeting a total of 250 new ambulances
- E-Natis System has been installed to accelerate licence renewal, registration and licensing of new and old vehicles. We appeal to government departments, especially fleet management officials to ensure that they monitor their vehicle licences in order to avoid an embarrassment of having vehicles that are not allowed on our roads. Licensing is done using the red and white Government number plates.
- Verification has been done in May 2012 to ensure the existence of the vehicles that belong to provincial government and physical inspection to confirm their condition.
This is evidence that proves the good progress made by the Trading Entity, which the department established a few months ago to technically operate on business principles “without” a profit as we believe that the efficiency and effectiveness will be of utmost importance in order to successfully service our sister departments with all fleet requirements based on fleet management principles aligned to government.
This Trading Entity reports to the department’s accounting officer and I am happy to announce that in its first audit since its establishment the entity obtained an unqualified audit report. A separate set of financial statements had to be prepared and audited separately. This was a testing time. The entity followed a complex reporting compared to departments that of reporting on accrual basis of accounting and was audited as such.
The trading entity successfully purchased its fleet and accounted for its operations successfully. This outcome is consistent with the outcome of the department’s audit process as we have also achieved another unqualified audit report for the third consecutive year since the 2009/10 financial year. The department is now determined to reduce the matters of emphasis that have been highlighted by the Auditor-General, including non-financial performance information.
As the MEC responsible for this department, I can say without fear of contradiction that the Eastern Cape Department of Transport is, indeed, turning the corner. I would like to thank all the departmental officials for working together to ensure that we improve our internal controls and the general administration of the organisation.
The future looks bright for this Trading Entity and an effort has been made to ensure that the procurement of additional 340 vehicles is biased towards the provincially-based auto manufacturers as we have ordered 70 sedans, 30 S/C – LWB and 45 D/C – SWB from General Motors, 30 D/C-SWB from Nissan, 80 sedans from Volkswagen, 10 of 35 seater buses, 30 Quantums and 45 S/C – LWB from Toyota SA. Non-availability of targeted type of vehicles has caused buying outside the province.
This will ensure sustainability of jobs for employees in the automotive sector, which has been the backbone of the provincial economy. The usage of First Auto Maintenance Contract through the National contract RT 46 will monitor the government work distribution to ensure the work is distributed equally to all registered service providers. This will further ensure that local qualifying Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMMEs) are preferred with a base target of 40% to be achieved.
For the long term investment, the department through our Human Resource Development Directorate is investigating the feasibility of partnering with institutions of higher learning, particularly the Further Education and Training colleges and the local repairs/maintenance shops across the province in an effort to re-introduce the “Apprenticeship – Artisan” concept as this is one area that has been neglected since the introduction of computerized vehicles.
It is, indeed, clear that working together we can do more to contribute in the development of the local economy.
In conclusion, the antagonists that doubted our ability as Provincial Government to run our fleet through the Department of Transport after the expiry of the contract were proved wrong. I would like to assure all government officials and the people of the Eastern Cape that we are capable of managing this crucial service!
Media contact:
Ncedo Kumbaca
Cell: 082 562 6023
