By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Fleet company Afrirent Fleet Management has withdrawn its cars from the City of Johannesburg (COJ) over a payment dispute.
Afrirent was awarded a 30-month, R1.2 billion fleet management contract in 2021. This agreement covered the provision of vehicles to essential city entities, including JMPD, City Power, Pikitup and Johannesburg Water.
As part of this deal, Afrirent delivered 87 BMW vehicles to JMPD for highway patrol and crime prevention, enhancing law enforcement visibility across Johannesburg.
Fullview understands JMPD and Pikitup are the most affected entities.
According to Afrirent, the withdrawal was in place as the City owed it more than R90 million, some money dates back to last year.
The company’s CEO, Senzo Tsabedze, told News24 the two parties were locked in meetings to resolve the issue.
“The vehicles are still grounded, and we are meeting with the City’s executive to find a solution,” he said.
The City of Johannesburg has yet to issue a formal response in the matter.
Meanwhile the Democratic Alliance (DA) expressed concern that the absence of a city manager will affect service delivery during the festive season.
This comes after the city failed to appeal a court judgement setting aside the employment of Floyd Brink, who has served as the city manager for the last two years.
The city had until Friday to appeal the court judgement but had not done so.
DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the metro experiences several service delivery problems, including water challenges and problems with non-payment of service providers.
“I am told that 80% of the JMPD is affected, which means bylaw enforcement and the safety of residents are concerns.
“Some of the cars have already been made immobile. According to the information we received, the city has not paid the service provider since October 2024,” she said.
Kayser-Echeozonjoku said she was shocked that the city was spending money on legal battles but failing to pay service providers.
“The city spent a lot of money defending an unconstitutional decision in court but cannot pay service providers.We urge the mayor to ensure that this issue is resolved to avoid a total collapse of services, “she said.