BCMM Municipal Vehicles Removed

Statement by Cllr Sue Bentley – DA Buffalo City Caucus Leader:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding accountability from the ANC-led Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) administration over the metro’s financial collapse, underscored by the attachment and removal of 22 vehicles from its operational fleet.

The municipality’s ANC-led leadership has plunged the metro into a service delivery crisis, as a well-managed fleet is the backbone of service delivery for services like waste management, water, electricity, and sewage.

The ANC’s skewed priorities have diverted hundreds of millions of rands away from essential service delivery and paying suppliers, towards vanity projects such as the Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels Recreational Park, Ebuhlanti, the vandalised Zwelitsha Wastewater Treatment Works, and event sponsorship.

The removal of 22 operational vehicles clearly indicates the metro’s inability to manage its finances in a way that enables it to deliver mandated local government services and act against mismanagement and corruption within its administrative ranks.

The DA’s Buffalo City Caucus has previously called for accountability regarding the municipality’s finances. Despite this, the Municipal Manager (MM) and the Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) appear to have withheld vital information from Council concerning court orders against the municipality. For this reason, we will be demanding a meeting with the MM and Acting CFO to address the issue of financial accountability.

The signs of BCMM’s dire financial situation include:

• Ward based pothole teams have not filled potholes in the current financial year due to no asphalt being supplied.
• An inability to reinstate roads and pavements where water repairs have been undertaken.
• The turnaround time for repairs to water and sewerage infrastructure runs into weeks, with loss of precious water.
• Sewage issues requiring jetting taking many days because there is no jetting machine.
• Fleet non-operational for extended periods of time for simple things like tyres and batteries.
• Theft of parts rendering many vehicles non-operational and often too expensive to repair.
• The outsourcing of the waste removal function despite tens of millions having been spent on compactor trucks which are not operational.
• The outsourcing of water tankers because the BCMM fleet is non-operational.
• Inadequate law enforcement and traffic operations due to lack of operational vehicles.

The residents of Buffalo City deserve better. They deserve a DA government that puts their needs first and delivers reliable services, financial stability, and good, corruption-free governance.