KZN govt says vehicles meant for eThekwini NHW given to police due to lack of funding for maintenance

JOHANNESBURG - The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government says the vehicles which were donated to a local crime-fighting volunteer group, were given to the police because of a lack of funding for the maintenance of the cars.

In April last year, the former Premier, Nomusa Dube Ncube, agreed to supply the eThekwini Neighbourhood Watch with 36 vehicles.

But the group only received two cars and is now being told no other vehicles will be provided.

The office of current Premier Thami Ntuli said they realised there was a "lack of proper planning around the maintenance of the cars, including fuel and servicing costs".

This then led to the decision, in December last year, to offer the vehicles to various police stations.

But in a document seen by EWN, the neighbourhood watch was meant to receive a monthly stipend of R1,000 for fuel provided by the provincial government.

"The contract stated that the government, as they are donating these vehicles to us, they will be responsible for R1,000 petrol per month, they will be responsible for a tracker and then in terms of service and maintenance, we will be liable as the organisation that they are handing it over to, of which we had no problem," said the crime buster group's Njabulo Mngenyane.

The group said they only received petrol twice since they got the cars and have been paying for fuel themselves.