Car rental firm Avis has confiscated about 2,500 vehicles from the City of Johannesburg’s fleet after its contract expired two weeks ago.
This could spark a security crisis in the country’s biggest metro as the vehicles were used by Johannesburg metro police department in operations such as highway patrols.
They were also being used by the city's water department.
The confiscation was confirmed on Wednesday by Bryne Maduka, the city manager of the municipality. Maduka said everything possible was being done to avoid serious service delivery disruption and ensure a return to full operations.
“We are working towards ensuring that there are minimal service delivery disruptions and are working around the clock to avoid a collapse of service delivery,” he said.
Maduka said the contract could not be renewed as it had been renewed before.
“The contract has been extended before, so a simple extension may result in the contract being declared irregular by the auditors. We are following the correct supply chain processes.”
Maduka said he was not aware that Avis was unhappy about the expiry of the contract or whether money was owed. He also could not confirm whether the city had found another service provider. “I cannot say until the supply chain process is concluded,” he added.
However, Dada Morero, leader of the ANC caucus in the city, said the confiscation was related to nonpayment.
“They have failed to pay the fleet company. They have always maintained that they have money, there’s no crisis in the city and the ANC is lying about the city’s financial position.
“Tomorrow 400 trucks from Joburg Water will also be taken. Watch this space. If only they admitted and accepted what the ANC said as early as August, we would not be in this situation,” said Morero.
Avis had not responded at the time of publication and its comment will follow as soon as it is obtained.
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