WHERE ARE ALL THE RENTED CARS?

While it might come as good news that government is in the process of purchasing 800 new vehicles for the various ministries and departments, there is still a grey area that needs to be ironed out, as far as this matter is concerned.

This is the issue of vehicles government has been renting from private companies. Where have they been distributed and how are they helping government in the delivery of services? Okay, here is what we know: Government has for a long time been using rented vehicles to complement its own fleet of cars. The cost effectiveness of using this method to boost the government fleet has never been properly unpacked, such that we all see its usefulness. We also know that rented cars cost an arm and a leg. The amount government has been spending on each of such vehicles has been rising over the years. We have now heard that some ministries spend up to E33 000 per month on renting just one car, probably depending on the model and other factors. This amount, which has been confirmed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, is still shocking to the ordinary citizen.

Changes

Some people actually buy cars worth that much in our country, where even grey import vehicles have become too expensive for the ordinary liSwati to afford, courtesy of recent changes to the import levies for imported cars. Previously, emaSwati could import 15-year-old vehicles, but this is no longer the case, as a result of the Used Motor Vehicle Permit Specification Notice, 2020, which banned the importation of old cars. I have digressed. It emerged in Parliament on Thursday that in the financial year ended March 31, 2021, the Office of the Auditor General (AG) raised an audit query, questioning an expenditure of more than E18.9 million in respect of vehicle rentals.

In a layman’s view, this amount could buy about 30 new vehicles like bakkies and sedans. However, Public Works Principal Secretary (PS) Thulani Mkhaliphi disputed this when he and other officials of the ministry appeared before the PAC on Thursday. Mkhaliphi said E18 million “can hardly buy 18 vehicles.” The controlling officer’s calculations suggest that on average, each car would cost around E1 million. I may not be an expert in this field, but it appears that we are actually looking to buy luxury cars as opposed to workhorses.

The PS said government decided to rent vehicles from private companies because there was a need to boost car fleets across all government departments. That is what we know. What we do not know is how many rented cars government has acquired from these companies over the years and at what cost. In fact, we do not know how many are part of the government fleet as we speak. The grey area I was referring to above is on the actual allocation of these cars. It is an open secret that the police are among the essential departments that have had the perennial challenge of a shortage of vehicles. This is the common excuse given when people report incidents of crime.

Questions

Where are the rented cars when the police continually give this excuse, to the detriment of victims of various crimes? There is also the matter of the types of rented vehicles the ministry is talking about. Is it possible to hire an ambulance or any vehicle that would be suitable for use by the Eswatini National Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (ENFRES), for example? If that is not the case, how and where are these cars helping the ordinary citizen?

The ‘977’ medical emergency hotline personnel also give the same excuse as the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) when called to respond to certain situations. That is why I liked the questions posed by PAC members to the team from the Ministry of Public Works. Matsanjeni South Member of Parliament (MP) Sabelo Ndlangamandla, who is Chairman of the committee, wanted to know if ambulances would be among the 800 cars government will be purchasing. PS Mkhaliphi responded by assuring the PAC that ambulances and police cars would be among the coming cars. He said every ministry would get a few cars from the 800 that will be purchased, but hinted that this would not mean an end to the shortage of cars within government departments.

According to the PS, the initial plan was to buy 1 000 cars but new calculations indicated that prices had gone up and it would no longer be possible to procure that number. Now, there is also another issue I just cannot wrap my head around. It is said that the cars will be delivered in over 12 weeks, but there was no specific timeline indicating when the process would start and end. Also, the purchase of the new cars always has to be contrasted against the number of old cars government has let go. These could be vehicles that have already reached the maximum number of years or mileage they should be on the road. These are cars that may have already been auctioned off. How many have been involved in accidents or developed mechanical faults and had to be written off? Without all these figures at our disposal, it will be difficult to celebrate the fact that government will be purchasing 800 new cars.

Expenditure

What we know is that relying too much on vehicles from car-hire companies can never be a cost-effective measure. It goes against what Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg called for when he presented his budget speech back in February. The minister’s speech emphasised the fact that to grow the economy, Eswatini needed to cut down on unnecessary and wasteful expenditure. He said the budget he was presenting, if well executed and with the support of the nation, could grow the country’s economy considerably. “There is no one silver bullet that is going to save us. It is going to require doing many things well, continuing to cut unnecessary and wasteful expenditure, completing all outstanding  ‘‘capital projects, starting new capital projects that will give us good returns and continuing ‘‘to make Eswatini the investment destination of choice in the region.”

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