Govt vehicle fleet 'broken and old’
Current fleet unreliable, maintenance expensive
A special committee has noted that in many government garages, mechanics sit idle waiting for parts to repair vehicles.
An extremely outdated fleet, with some vehicles 20 years of age or older, unused government vehicles gathering dust for months and years at workshops due to a lack of parts and valid licenses and waiting periods of up to six months for acquiring something as small as a light bulb are some of the challenges highlighted in a recent report.
The findings by a special government committee stated that this is the result of a moratorium implemented on 1 February 2018 as part of cost-saving measures on the purchase of new government vehicles.
The report stated that a lack of vehicles has had wide-ranging impacts. This includes the ministry of health and social services in the Zambezi Region, which currently has only four ambulances compared to 15 in 2016.
The lack of ambulances has severely hampered the directorate's ability to respond to urgent referrals from various clinics in the region.
The annual malaria spraying programme, as well as immunisation programmes, have been abandoned due to a severe shortage of vehicles, the report stated.
Unreliable fleet
The report by the National Council’s standing committee on transport, infrastructure and housing also found that the current fleet is unreliable and expensive to maintain.
This results in vehicles being parked at government garages, where the workshops accumulate debts of up to thousands or millions of dollars.
Government offices, ministries, agencies and regional councils all agree that the government’s workshops are not fully equipped and lack the necessary capacity to deliver quality support services.
According to the report, the 11 nationwide government garages are synonymous “with parked broken vehicles due to minor or severe technical problems.”
Also, “government garages are not fulfilling their mandate, as they have turned into an economic burden."
The committee referred to a poor management system at the workshops due to the absence of regular and systematic capacity building to enable mechanics to service the latest vehicle models.
The delivery of goods and other essentials from the workshops to Windhoek are reportedly delayed due to the absence of courier services.
Service delivery
The moratorium has also had a significant impact on service delivery and has created severe uncertainty regarding official travel routines.
In most workshops, the majority of trained staff are idle since there are no parts to repair the broken vehicles. The blame for this is placed on the central procurement system in Windhoek, with one person responsible for the 11 workshops nationwide.
“This has impeded the speedy repair of vehicles because the procurement of small parts, like a light bulb, can take between three and six months to be delivered,” the report states.
Complaints have also been raised to the committee about private workshops allegedly inflating their bills when working on government vehicles.
Moreover, the N$3.50 per kilometre allowance allocated for official travel is not market-related and does not meet the current demand in relation to the increased prices of basic products and rising accommodation costs.
In January, government announced it would purchase 30 Toyota Fortuners and two Toyota Land Cruisers (V8) for official use by state officials.
The Land Cruisers have been allocated for use by the prime minister, the Speaker, the deputy prime minister and former presidents, for which N$25 million has been budgeted.
– [email protected]
The findings by a special government committee stated that this is the result of a moratorium implemented on 1 February 2018 as part of cost-saving measures on the purchase of new government vehicles.
The report stated that a lack of vehicles has had wide-ranging impacts. This includes the ministry of health and social services in the Zambezi Region, which currently has only four ambulances compared to 15 in 2016.
The lack of ambulances has severely hampered the directorate's ability to respond to urgent referrals from various clinics in the region.
The annual malaria spraying programme, as well as immunisation programmes, have been abandoned due to a severe shortage of vehicles, the report stated.
Unreliable fleet
The report by the National Council’s standing committee on transport, infrastructure and housing also found that the current fleet is unreliable and expensive to maintain.
This results in vehicles being parked at government garages, where the workshops accumulate debts of up to thousands or millions of dollars.
Government offices, ministries, agencies and regional councils all agree that the government’s workshops are not fully equipped and lack the necessary capacity to deliver quality support services.
According to the report, the 11 nationwide government garages are synonymous “with parked broken vehicles due to minor or severe technical problems.”
Also, “government garages are not fulfilling their mandate, as they have turned into an economic burden."
The committee referred to a poor management system at the workshops due to the absence of regular and systematic capacity building to enable mechanics to service the latest vehicle models.
The delivery of goods and other essentials from the workshops to Windhoek are reportedly delayed due to the absence of courier services.
Service delivery
The moratorium has also had a significant impact on service delivery and has created severe uncertainty regarding official travel routines.
In most workshops, the majority of trained staff are idle since there are no parts to repair the broken vehicles. The blame for this is placed on the central procurement system in Windhoek, with one person responsible for the 11 workshops nationwide.
“This has impeded the speedy repair of vehicles because the procurement of small parts, like a light bulb, can take between three and six months to be delivered,” the report states.
Complaints have also been raised to the committee about private workshops allegedly inflating their bills when working on government vehicles.
Moreover, the N$3.50 per kilometre allowance allocated for official travel is not market-related and does not meet the current demand in relation to the increased prices of basic products and rising accommodation costs.
In January, government announced it would purchase 30 Toyota Fortuners and two Toyota Land Cruisers (V8) for official use by state officials.
The Land Cruisers have been allocated for use by the prime minister, the Speaker, the deputy prime minister and former presidents, for which N$25 million has been budgeted.
– [email protected]
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