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By KWANELE SIBIYA | 2024-11-22
ABOUT 100 government vehicles, which developed mechanical faults are ‘rotting’ at Matsapha Repair Centre, where they are awaiting repair.
This was revealed by Workshop Manager at Matsapha Repair Centre Robert Clark yesterday afternoon during a tour by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the garage.
The aim of the tour was for the PAC to receive clarity on why many government vehicles were kept at the garage for too long without being fixed.
PAC Chairman, Madala Mhlanga said they wanted to know the total number of cars being kept at the garage.
Clark said about 100 government cars were presently at the garage.
When clarifying why the vehicles were kept for too long at the garage without being fixed, Clark said the delay was caused by the inaccessibility or scarcity of car parts in local motor spares as well as the delay in authorisation from the ministry of public works and transport for them to proceed with the repairs.
authorisation
On the aspect of not promptly getting authorisation from the ministry, he explained that after receiving the cars they diagnosed them and then write a quotation to the ministry, alerting the officials about the type of mechanical fault discovered as well as the spares that were needed to fix the vehicles.
He mentioned that they would then have to get an authorisation letter from the ministry, that they could go ahead and fix the cars.
He pointed out that in some instances, they would not receive a feedback from the ministry for some time; hence they kept the cars because they could not repair them without authorisation.
When it comes to the scarcity of spares, Clark mentioned that there were some vehicles whose parts were in short supply locally.
He said some Isuzu and Chereverelot, parts, for instance, were difficult to find.
He said sometimes they would have to wait for six weeks to get the parts after ordering them.
“There is nothing we can do, but we just sit and wait. This is frustrating, especially when it is raining and you have limited space in the workshop,” he said.
failing
Clark said it was not that they were not working, but getting the authorisation was a challenge.
When Mhlanga asked if one of the reasons why the cars were not being fixed, had anything to do with government failing to pay them on time, Clark said it did not apply in this instance.
As a result, he said they did not detain the vehicles because of payment issues. He mentioned that if a vehicle was repaired, they would allow government officials to take it, regardless of whether or not it has been paid for.
General Transport Manager, Mduduzi Lukhele, clarified that not government cars for non-payments did not mean that they did not have challenges in terms of payment from government.
He mentioned that government owed them a substantial amount of money, but their policy not to government cars for non-payment.
When asked how long it took them to repair a car if they had all the required spares, Clark said if it was a basic service or brakes, it would take them a day.
if it was a bigger problem, say a gear box or engine, it would take them between seven to 10 days.
“However, if it’s a bigger part that needs to be fixed, it could take us between 15 to 21 days,” Clark said. apart from government, they have other clients such as Eswatini Beverages, Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC), Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and a lot of insurance and panel beating clients.
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