Home News Services at Dawid Kruiper Municipality grinding to a halt – DA

Services at Dawid Kruiper Municipality grinding to a halt – DA

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DA chief whip Flip van der Steen said services were grinding to a halt due to the municipal fleet that was awaiting repairs and maintenance.

DA CHIEF whip at Dawid Kruiper municipality Flip van der Steen said services were grinding to a halt due to the municipal fleet that was awaiting repairs and maintenance.

He indicated that there was a huge backlog of over 500 requisitions waiting to be sanctioned, with about 20 outstanding job cards per mechanic.

“The mechanics cannot complete jobs because they are waiting on parts.”

He said a R5 million compactor that was purchased last year, had been parked at the rubbish dumps for the past month.

“A requisition for parts was submitted on February 24 although the vehicle cannot be serviced until supply chain management (SCM) issues are resolved. The requisition has apparently received its third level of approval, but a total of six approvals are required for the process to be finalised. In the meantime, the compactor may not operate, as it will risk the guarantee will lapse. Rubbish is just being dumped as lorries cannot travel to the dumping site. Strong winds are causing rubbish to be strewn all over the place.”

Van der Steen added that two graders were parked at the workshop while one had been non-operational for almost two years.

“All they need is replacement plates to protect the blades. Due to prolonged delays to fix a 16-ton lorry used for moving machinery around, that has also not been operating for about two years, a further R5,000 is now also needed to replace its batteries.

“The SCM unit is unable to resolve the respective requisitions or even provide us with a timeline when outstanding requisitions will be finalised. The municipality blames the hold-up on their shift to a new system. The reality, however, is that a complete disjuncture exists between the finance unit and the municipal garage, with SCM personnel simply not having the expertise required to procure the necessary parts.”

Spokesperson for Dawid Kruiper municipality Patrick Williams denied that service delivery had been adversely affected.

“A number of service delivery vehicles including four front end loaders, eight refuse trucks, seven vacuum tankers, four water tankers, two road graders, three tipper trucks to remove refuse are in working order.

“There are a number of service delivery vehicles that are operational. Services have not come to a halt.”

He explained that they were in the process of implementing a new financial system, called Munsoft, replacing the previous BIQ system. “The Munsoft system was implemented on June 1. Last month all the procurement processes were stopped on the BIQ system, to transfer or capture information onto Munsoft.

“On May 31, more than 300 requisitions were captured by the workshop department, giving the supply chain manager (SCM) unit one day to complete those requisitions. It was an impossible task, as quotes needed to be sourced, and the process normally takes two to three days for completion.”

He added that the invoice for the BOMAG compactor was submitted to supply chain management although a deviation needed to be signed.

“A formal procurement process must take place because the amount is above R30,000. This means that either a formal procurement process must take place. In this situation, a deviation process was followed, as the parts needed could only be procured from the agents of the BOMAG compactor.

“The procurement process could not be finalised as the deviation letter that was supposed to be sent to the municipal manager for approval, was never written..

Williams stated that 10,358 requisitions were captured from the workshop department where 510 were incomplete as of May 31.

“More than 9,000 requisitions were handled and completed by the SCM unit. To say the SCM unit is inefficient, is factually incorrect.”

He indicated that they were in the process of finalising the remaining requisitions.

“An update on the completion of the requisitions will be given at the next portfolio committee meeting.”

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