Africa-Press – Eswatini. Some of the vehicles that were rented for the 2023 General Elections have not been returned to the rental company; despite that they cost the taxpayer at least E3 500 per day.
About 700 vehicles were initially rented for the general elections. These vehicles were retained and used by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) in all the stages of the general elections, which were the registration, validation, nominations, campaigning, primary and secondary elections. According to sources, the rental prices varied from E3 500 – E4 500 per day; however, this price range was said to have also been impacted by the number of days government kept the vehicles as a discount was offered. Regardless of the completion of the general elections on September 29, 2023, some of the vehicles were said to have been kept by government. These vehicles, according to sources, were used for a number of events, including the State funeral of deceased National Commissioner of Police (NATCOM) William Tsitsibala Dlamini, the Shiselweni Reed Dance Ceremony and other miscellaneous assignments by ministries.
The sources claimed that the vehicles were not all returned because of the lack of transport within government ministries and departments, which is yet to be addressed. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport, through the Eswatini Government Tender Board, since the beginning of the year, called upon companies to express interest for government fleet leasing and financing. The ministry expressed a desire to engage a firm for the provision of government fleet lease financing for a period ranging between three and five years. However, this process has not been completed to date, although government had set aside about E200 million to engage in it. Half of the money was said to have been from the EBC budget for transport during the general elections, while the balance was sourced from government coffers.
Comment
In light of this, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport Principal Secretary (PS), Thulani Mkhaliphi, was sought for comment on the status of the tender and the number of vehicles that had been bought by government to date. Alternatively, he was asked if it was not complete, what challenges the ministry was facing and how many vehicles was government seeking to buy through this tender. Also, he was asked if all the vehicles rented for the elections had been returned to the suppliers and the reason for not returning them or the number of those left behind. Lastly, he was asked if it was not cheaper to procure the vehicles instead of renting them. Mkhaliphi said: “We are still in tender process and nothing has been concluded as yet. I am not comfortable talking about details of a process whose outcome is still under adjudication (sic).” The PS explained that EBC was their client (as a ministry) and users. He said their client had been the one paying for the rented vehicles and would be in a better place to give precise answers.
What he could confirm though, was that quite a substantial number of the vehicles that were used by EBC were returned to the rental company. He estimated these vehicles to be more than 98 per cent, while insisting that EBC would know better how much this service cost them. Mkhaliphi further said: “The decision to buy outright (i.e. use own capital outlay), lease (either financial or operating lease) or rent is a function of many factors. Rental by nature is ideal and is a preferred option if the purpose for which the vehicles are required is short-term and or not ideal to use own assets for whatever reason. But the main consideration is that this must be for short-term. Elections are short-term (sic).”
Costs
He said the terrain where these vehicles were driven and the frequency they were driven in these terrains was exerting and impacted too much on the vehicles maintenance costs. Also, the PS said driving skills of most drivers in such high volume vehicles projects was not guaranteed and as such, the best option in such circumstances was to transfer the risks and costs to a third party and spare government’s own fleet. “Yes, it’s true we had very few numbers of serviceable vehicles. Even if we had most of them, they would now be at the garage and we would have saved on rentals but paid much higher in tyre repairs and maintenance,” he explained. Mkhaliphi said what would be expensive was keeping the rented vehicles for a longer period. On the other hand, a questionnaire was sent to the EBC Communications Officer, Mbonisi Bhembe, on Friday and it was yet to be responded to by the time this report was compiled yesterday.
Bhembe was asked if the EBC had returned all the rented vehicles and if yes, how many were actually allocated to them. He was also asked that if not all the vehicles were returned, what were those left behind used for at this point. Lastly, he was asked on the expenditure of renting the vehicles. According to the 2018 National Election Report, government allocated E71 138 130 for the elections’ transport budget. Meanwhile, in a previous response, Bhembe informed this publication that an inter-ministerial committee was set-up to deal with the general elections needs. He said this responding to a questionnaire, which sought to establish if the EBC had been provided with a new fleet and or they would be rented. Bhembe said the needs of the EBC for transport were to be addressed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
He said they were better suited to address them as they formed part of the task team assigned to ensure the smooth execution of the general elections. He was further asked if transferring the responsibility of transport would not result in the recurring of the challenges experienced in 2018. Bhembe said it had been agreed that the inter-ministerial committee should deal with availing working material for the EBC, which included transport needs.
Challenges
The 2018 National Elections Report stated that a number of challenges were experienced in the administration of transport. It was reported that the plan for allocation and distribution of transport was the entire responsibility of the CTO based on the EBC’s specification. “However, due to a number of challenges, transport was not provided for as specified. Most of the government vehicles earmarked for this exercise had mechanical breakdown. The CTO rented 96 per cent of the vehicles required for the elections,” reads in part the report. The EBC reported that the actual number of required vehicles was inadequate such that the polling staff and security agents had to share transport resources, which could have affected the opening and closing time for some polling centres.
It is worth noting that in 2018, when the constituency centres were increased from 55 – 59, the EBC used 1 091 vehicles. From this figure, 216 vehicles were sourced from the government fleet, while the remainder of 875 was rented. According to previous reports, the vehicles were rented at about E3 500 per day. The 875 vehicles, which were rented by government in 2018 for the general elections, were 217 double cab bakkie, 217 sedans, 441 minibuses with the capacity to transport 13 seated passengers per trip. On the other hand, the vehicles which were used in 2018 for this stage and sourced from the government fleet were 93 double cabs, 93 sedans and 30 minibuses which had the capacity to transport 13 passengers per trip.
Source: TIME
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