Municipality spends R160k to help four employees get driver's licence

Cash-strapped municipality owes Eskom R4.9bn and Rand Water R795m

A cash-strapped Mpumalanga municipality has spent R160,000, three times the normal price, to upgrade the driver's licences of four staff members.

The driving school that got the tender said it could not miss the lucrative business opportunity in which it charged Goven Mbeki Local Municipality in Secunda, R40,000 to train each employee to acquire a code EC licence commonly known as Code 14. The going rate for such licence at driving schools in the area is between R6,000 and R10,000 for a full package which includes a learner's licence, driving lessons and licence bookings.

The four employees were trained for 20 days in February and the municipality said this was to prepare them for its new fleet which includes compactor trucks.

The R160,000 is contained in the human resources development report which was tabled in council last week and now the DA has written to the office of mayor Nhlakanipho Zuma to seek clarity on the bill and the necessity of the licences. 

The municipality is one of the top ten municipalities owing Eskom about R4.9bn and they also owe Rand Water R795m. In April, the municipality was slapped with an R200m fine by the Bethal magistrate's court after it was found guilty of disposing of raw severe water to a river in the area.

The report cites that John Tate Driving School as the company that won the tender. Driving school owner Tate told Sowetan the tender and pricing were above board.

“I was called to send a quotation and I did. I charged R40,000 per person as that is not an individual but a company and they approved me and I did the job. Had they complained about quoting maybe I would have considered a lower amount,” said Tate.

He said his company has different quotes for individuals and companies.

“I charge companies higher because they have money, unlike individuals. It's a simple and fair business practice,” he said. 

The company has since paused from offering Code 14 lessons and Tate refused to say how much he used to charge bookings done by private individuals. 

However, two driving schools that Sowetan called in Secunda said they charged between R6,500 and R10,000 for the same offering. 

The municipality justified the amount saying there was value for money since the license upgrades were for the employees to be able to operate yellow fleet-compactor trucks used to seal potholes.

“The referred employees have now been used meaningfully in the area of their employment as they can operate the newly procured bigger yellow fleet – compactor trucks with the relevant driver's licence. All employees operating heavy machinery are required by the local government: staff regulations to have relevant qualifications or skills.

“The employees at the date of their employment were required to have a code 10 and now they need code 14 to operate the current fleet – compactor trucks. The municipality had to ensure that the employee was adequately trained, and procured the services of a service provider to assist the employees through the recognition of prior learning (RPL) intervention due to several limitations such as their educational and language barrier on their part as the drivers’ licences had to be done through their mother tongue from the beginning to the end,” said Donald Green from the municipality.

It is illogical for the municipality to spend R160,000 to upgrade driver licenses of only four employees, something is fishy here.Lehlohonolo Madumise-DA caucus leader

He said they had issued a tender and John Tate was picked because they offered the lowest prices.

DA caucus leader in the area Lehlohonolo Madumise said the amount spent was questionable and needed to be investigated. 

“It is illogical for the municipality to spend R160,000 to upgrade driver licenses of only four employees, something is fishy here. The municipality should be working towards improving its expenditure and revenue collection so that it better deliver services to the people. We are calling for the municipal manager to institute an investigation on this because this might seem small but how much money vanishes in such modus operandi, we don't know,” said Madumise.

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