Cape Town - Despite the Department of Transport and Public Works reporting to the standing committee on transport and public works that it achieved a clean audit for the 2020/21 financial year, the theft of diesel to the tune of R15 089 caught the committee chairperson’s eye.
The item was highlighted under the fruitless and wasteful expenditure column and committee chairperson Ricardo Mackenzie (DA) wanted the department’s officials to provide details, fearing the theft might spark a dangerous trend.
“I am really keen to understand this and the reason why is that we saw Eskom say that they lose R100 million of diesel per month. I want to understand how you lost R15 000 in diesel because I am scared more could be lost in the future,” said Mackenzie.
Department head Jacqueline Gooch said: “This was a relatively small amount that we picked up and dealt with through a Provincial Forensic Services (PFS) matter.
“For us the theft of diesel is normally out of parked plant or yellow fleet which are road construction vehicles that are often parked in quite remote roads in rural areas and perhaps don’t always have the kinds of levels of security that are necessary.
“We do try where we can from a response point of view to park such machinery in more secure environments, but that isn’t always possible given the nature of the roads network,” said Gooch.
Meanwhile, committee member Lulama Mvimbi (ANC) asked about the R5.7 million roll-over requested from the 2019/20 financial year to the 2020/21 financial year with regard to the funding, design and construction of the access road linking the Louwville community to the Community Day Centre in Saldanha.
Gooch told him that the roll-over was occasioned by the municipality, which had not completed its processes with regards to the Vredenburg urbanisation project.