80% of JMPD’s fleet at risk as payment dispute with Afrirent escalates

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Johannesburg expressed concern that the absence of a city manager will affect service delivery during the festive season.

This comes after the city failed to appeal a court judgement setting aside the employment of Floyd Brink, who has served as the city manager for the last two years.

The city had until Friday to appeal the court judgement but had not done so.

‘Mayor should appoint acting city manager

DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku told The Citizen on Sunday that an acting city manager should be appointed.

“The executive mayor should have put an acting City Manager in place. It’s the festive season. A lot of things that happen over this period,” she said.

Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the metro experiences several service delivery problems, including water challenges and problems with non-payment of service providers.

Nonpayment of service providers

A payment dispute is ongoing between the municipality and Afrirent, a company that leases vehicles to the city.

This dispute could see a huge number of the municipality’s vehicles taken off the road, including Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) cars.

“I am told that 80% of the JMPD is affected, which means bylaw enforcement and the safety of residents are concerns.

“Some of the cars have already been made immobile. According to the information we received, the city has not paid the service provider since October 2024,” she said.

Kayser-Echeozonjoku said she was shocked that the city was spending money on legal battles but failing to pay service providers.

“The city spent a lot of money defending an unconstitutional decision in court but cannot pay service providers. We urge the mayor to ensure that this issue is resolved to avoid a total collapse of services,” she said.

DA feels vindicated after Brink’s removal

Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the DA feels vindicated by the court judgement that removed Brink as the city manager.

Some parties in defence of Brink’s appointment had accused the DA of challenging Brink’s appointment because he is “black.”

However, Kayser-Echeozonjoku said this is far from the truth.

“Unfortunately, he [Brink] has made some utterances, but it has not been about race.

“We do not believe that people should not be judged according to the colour of their skin.”

She said the Brink court battle was a matter of “principle” and fairness.