By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Avis car rental has withdrawn some of its rented fleet from the City of Johannesburg amid delays to approve a new contract.
The car rental confirmed the collection of its vehicles, saying: “This is due to the expiry of a full maintenance lease agreement that terminated on 31 October. Notice was provided to the City as per the agreement.”
The repossessed vehicles are part of the City’s non-specialised fleet: the cars and bakkies and trucks that city officials from all departments and entities – including police cars, City Power trucks, Joburg Water bakkies – drive around in.
The non-specialised fleet is supplied by Avis and Afrirent and compromises more than 4 000 vehicles.
The tender for fire engines and the Pikitup waste management fleet are separate from the non-specialised fleet tender.
The spokesperson for the Mayoral Committee for Group Corporate and Shared Services, McKinnley Mitchell, said the issue was with the contract for the fleet, which National Treasury declared as irregular in 2020.
He added the contract was awarded to Avis and Afrirent under a tender which Treasury ordered the City to cancel and do a thorough forensic investigation.
Mitchell said the City, then governed by the ANC, did neither “and took no steps to start a new tender process”.
“We inherited this mess from the ANC: an irregular contract that had been constantly extended and no investigation done.
“An investigation is underway to establish whether Afrirent had made payments to politically linked individuals, and a simple glance at the numbers showed that the City was not getting value for money.”