The unveiling of 14 of the 100 cherry pickers recently purchased by the City of Tshwane on Tuesday marked a step in the right direction towards building its internal capacity and reducing dependence on private contractors.

This was the sentiment shared by Mayor Nasiphi Moya, who officiated at the event hosted at Pretorius depot in Pretoria East, where she announced that the metro has decreased expenditure on contracted services by 7%.

“What this means is that we must increase the equipment and the tools of trade that we are purchasing as the city. This is an example that these cherry pickers must be given to officials of the city to drive, and that there are no contractors who come with cherry pickers to work for the city,” she said.

She explained that the city’s current implementation is a hybrid model, combining lease-to-own and direct purchase options.

“That is the first batch of the purchase. We are doing that, but the lease-to-own helps us with financial management. We can’t afford to buy directly, and that is why the hybrid model works. Where we have the financial muscle, we buy, but where we can’t, let’s lease to own,” Moya said.

She stated that the city’s corporate fleet strategy spans five years and is a comprehensive plan that also considers insourcing or building in-house capacity for repairs and maintenance.

According to her, the city aims to remove private contractors from water and waste collection, specifically the trucks used for these services.

In May, the city announced the procurement of 260 vehicles for various departments.

Moya added that cherry pickers would be used for tasks like tree pruning and by the electricity department for overhead work.

“The next batch is coming at the end of June and the last batch at the end of July,” she said.

She emphasised that the unveiling of the new vehicles demonstrates the city’s commitment to building internal capacity and reducing its reliance on private contractors.

One notable feature of the vehicles is that they are equipped with a tracking system to monitor their usage.

Moya said: “The most devastating thing has been the recklessness in our officials on how they handle these things. Here, there are vehicles that don’t even last for three years,” she said.

She noted that the tracking device would curb undesirable behaviour among some workers who tend to idle instead of delivering services as expected.

“Sometimes when seeing that you are reducing contracted services, residents are worried that the service won’t be there, but we are saying we are going for an alternative service delivery,” she said.

The event also marked the reopening of the Pretorius depot, which had been closed for over six years. 

Moya explained that the depot was shut down after the previous manager’s retirement, resulting in municipal vehicles being taken to Akasia for repairs, which was time-consuming. 

“For water and electricity, their vehicles would be repaired here, and the reopening will reduce our turnaround time,” Moya said.

Regarding human resources, she said the depot’s reopening boosts capacity, and the city’s fleet management strategy includes filling critical vacancies at the workshop.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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