Joburg Metropolitan Police Department cars were reportedly grounded last week because of a payment dispute. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla / Gallo Image) Johannesburg’s R25.2-billion creditor crisis appears to be reaching frontline services after Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) vehicles were allegedly grounded last week during a payment dispute with fleet service provider Afrirent.
The alleged disruption came days after the MMC for transport, Kenny Kunene, publicly acknowledged that the Johannesburg Roads Agency’s (JRA’s) fleet had been brought to a standstill after running out of fuel and then later announced that the agency’s allocated fuel budget had been received and operations had resumed.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_598839_792828.jpg "The City of Johannesburg's MMC for roads and transport, Kenny Kunene. (Photo: Luba Lesolle / Gallo Images)")
The JMPD developments come against the backdrop of the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ’s) worsening financial position. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana recently disclosed that Johannesburg owes creditors R25.2-billion while holding cash reserves of just R3.9-billion, warning that the metro’s deteriorating liquidity threatens its financial sustainability.
Daily Maverick has now learnt that the disruption was not confined to the JRA.
A senior JMPD official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the JMPD fleet had been grounded during a dispute between the City and Afrirent. This was supported by the DA’s shadow MMC for public safety, Solomon Maila.
“We can confirm that JMPD vehicles were grounded this week by Afrirent because of a dispute over the amount owed,” said Maila.
The Public Safety Department said there had been a dispute over the billing of some vehicles by Afrirent, he said, adding that the City subsequently paid almost R50-million to Afrirent, while both parties agreed to undertake a verification process on the disputed billing, expected to be completed before the end of next week.
“It is unacceptable that a payment dispute can result in policing vehicles being taken off the road. Residents rely on JMPD for visible policing, traffic enforcement and emergency response,” said Maila.
Afrirent confirmed that the City had made a partial payment last Tuesday and that the parties were currently concluding a written payment plan for the outstanding balance.
The company denied reports that it had given the City a deadline to settle its account or face the grounding of vehicles.
“Afrirent can confirm that on Tuesday, CoJ made a partial payment to Afrirent, and the two parties are currently concluding a written payment plan for the settlement of the balance. To this end, no cars will be grounded by Afrirent,” the company said, adding that grounding vehicles would be considered only “as a last resort” after all dispute-resolution mechanisms contained in its service level agreement with the City had been exhausted.
While declining to disclose the amount outstanding, citing confidentiality obligations, the company confirmed that an outstanding balance remains. It did not directly address whether any vehicles had been grounded before the City’s partial payment.
JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said: “The City of Johannesburg is currently in active engagement with Afrirent regarding any outstanding payments and the verification of disputed billing.”
Fihla did not directly respond to questions about whether any JMPD vehicles had been grounded during the dispute and whether any operational capacity had been affected.
The two incidents are likely to intensify scrutiny of Johannesburg’s deteriorating financial position and whether mounting supplier disputes are undermining the delivery of essential municipal services. DM