Towing suspension creates crisis

Cartoon by HotRodKristina

Cartoon by HotRodKristina

Published Oct 8, 2015

Share

Durban - A recent decision by the eThekwini metro police to “terminate” tow truck contracts has left the city police with their “hands tied”, as they are unable to carry out the removal of vehicles.

Two city policemen, who approached The Mercury separately – both requesting anonymity – said an internal e-mail to staff last week told them they could no longer use the services of the towing companies after a contract had been “terminated”.

SR Recoveries and Nel’s Breakdown are understood to have been the companies that provided the service until last week.

It was earlier reported that City spokeswoman, Tozi Mthethwa had confirmed that the e-mail had been sent to staff; Mthetwa later pointed out that she did not confirm this.

When asked, she would not say whether an e-mail had been sent or not, but denied the contract had been terminated.

“The city did not terminate the contract, it expired,” she said.

Mthethwa said the metro police had taken a decision to make use of its own tow trucks to tow small vehicles. The unit would “only approach the city fleet department or the Road Traffic Inspectorate for the towing of heavy duty vehicles,” she added.

But RTI spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu was not aware of such an arrangement, saying the inspectorate operated on national roads only.

“They can’t come to us. It has to be a towing company.”

One metro policeman said the municipality’s decision was ill-informed and was proving a “nightmare to execute”. He added that the unit had “only about seven” tow trucks spread over its more than 10 stations.

“This is insufficient. Most of the time they only operate in town. They hardly go anywhere else. What happens to those not stationed in town?”

OPERATIONS HAMPERED

His colleague said the same, adding that he knew of several operations which had been hampered by last week’s developments.

“Citizens are complaining, accusing us of not doing our work. We are always getting complaints about abandoned vehicles and trailers. What will happen now with the contractors gone?

Opposition parties were surprised at the city’s decision, saying the matter had not come before the city’s executive committee before implementation.

IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the city’s supply chain management unit “is our biggest problem in the municipality. You can’t have a contract expire without you planning ahead”.

“The municipal manager needs to intervene and get to the root of the problem because some of the staff there have no idea what they are doing,” he said, adding that the predicament meant the municipality was “in a crisis”.

“People will obstruct traffic and there will be no repercussions. Supply must do its job, warning the city a contract is about to lapse and needs to be renewed,” he said.

DA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango welcomed the move to cut down on tow truck contracts but said the metro police would be rudderless if not properly managed.

“Attempts to have this done internally are a good move and would avoid the collusion of metro police and towing companies,” he said.

“The problem is the metro police department itself – there is no leadership.”

The Mercury

Follow IOL Motoring on Facebook

Related Topics: