fire engines

Mashaba suspects sabotage of Joburg fire engines

The Joburg mayor also promised that five more fire engines would be returning from repairs into active service within the next few weeks.

fire engines

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba addressed residents concerns about reports of a lack of fire engines to protect the city, saying there were suspicions of sabotage and that five more were due to return to service soon.

Shortage of fire engines

Residents of the city of Joburg were up in arms after claims by the emergency medical services (EMS) that the province was in dire need of additional resources and that there were in fact just six functional fire engines across the entire city.

“The reason being, that most of our fire engines are spending more time at the workshops,” said Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi.

“It was made worse by the withdrawal of the supplier at the last minute and we had to start the process of procuring new fire engines again.

“We want to reassure our residents that the matter about the shortages of fire engines is receiving attention from the highest office in the city.”

Mashaba’s response

This has indeed turned out to be the case as mayor Mashaba has responded as well. He promised residents the fleet would be up to 12 trucks in the coming weeks as five more are returning from having repairs done.

However, what was most shocking thing about his statement was the almost flippant way in which he appeared to reveal the whole situation could have been caused by sabotage.

“I have requested a full investigation into the state of disrepair in the fire engine fleet as well as suspected sabotage,” he said.

“I must emphasise from the outset that the safety of our residents remains a primary concern for the multi-party government. Indeed, when we took office in 2016, I made it a top priority to ensure that our aged red fleet, including many broken down fire engines, were repaired and returned to operations.”

Unfortunately, no other details about the alleged sabotage were forthcoming. He did, however, explain why the tender for fire engines fell apart in 2017.

“Regrettably, it was subsequently discovered that their appointment was tainted with allegations of fraud and corruption and that the tender was awarded on the basis of forged Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) documents.

“Indeed, it is this same contract, entered into by the previous administration, which the President announced a Special Investigation Unit investigation into.”