NW premier to splurge R1.1m on new luxury car
2010-07-18 13:00
North West’s Premier Maureen Modiselle will soon be the recipient of a brand-new
R1.1 million BMW 750i, while her old BMW is gathering dust at a panelbeater’s
premises.
The BMW 730d (registration ONE NW) has done 93 085km. It was bought
for about R900 000 in 2008.
The car was damaged in a minor accident in February. The air bags
were not activated during the accident, but the front bumper, grille and
headlamps were damaged.
Brian’s Auto Body Shop in Mafikeng says it would have cost about
R117 000 to fix the damage. However, the car has been standing idle for five
months at the body shop, chalking up R21 600 in unpaid storage fees.
The BMW 730d was the official vehicle used by Modiselle’s predecessor, Edna Molewa. Modiselle is currently using an Audi Q7 which was also
previously used by Molewa.
This week the Democratic Alliance released its second Wasteful
Expenditure Monitor. The report said that ministers, deputy ministers and
departments that report to them had spent close to R1.5 billion on unnecessary
items such as luxury cars, prolonged stays at five-star hotels, World Cup
tickets, self-congratulatory advertisements and lavish parties.
The DA described the spending as “a gross misallocation of public
funds which has brought no benefit to South Africans”.
Modiselle’s special adviser, Dr Benjani Chauke, said it
was not wasteful to purchase a R1.1-million vehicle as they were trying to
“safeguard the premier’s life”.He said: “Even before
the accident, we wanted to change the BMW because it was way above the
120 000km mark.”
City Press later established, however, that the mileage on the car
was in fact 93 085km.
Chauke claimed: “The other day both the Q7 and the back-up vehicle
were smoking.”
Brian’s Auto Body Shop manager, Adele Caetano, said a R117 438
repair quote was sent to the North West public works, roads and transport
department on February 17, but it was ignored.
Caetano said: “More than two months later they wanted to take the
vehicle away without paying the R2 062 we charged for stripping and fitting,
which was the work done which enabled us to give them a quote.”
She said the car could move, but its battery was flat because it
had been idle since February.
Shop owner Luis Caetano said the car was taking up space in the
undercover section of the premises, where the storage charge was R120 a
day.
He said the vehicle would not be released before the money owed had
been paid in full.
Matshube Mfoloe, the department’s spokesperson, said: “The vehicle
was driven from the accident scene in Rustenburg by the designated driver to
our offices in Mafikeng and subsequently taken to Dada Motors for assessment,
since no structural damage was evident.
“To our surprise and without our knowledge or instruction, the
vehicle was referred to Brian’s Auto Body Shop by Dada Motors.”
Mfoloe added: “The department is in the process of acquiring a new
vehicle for the premier. In terms of the ministerial handbook, members of the
executive council, ministers and premiers can purchase a vehicle of their choice
for up to 70% of their gross salary, and such vehicles should be utilised for
up to 120 000km or five years, whichever comes first.”
He said ONE NW “has or is about to complete its mileage; hence the
department is proactively in the process of acquiring a new vehicle for the
premier”.
And the panel-beater’s account? Mfoloe said: “The department will
not be paying storage as Brian’s is a government-approved merchant of WesBank
First Auto and it had signed the merchant agreement with WesBank not to charge
government storage fees.”
Caetano disputed this, however, saying that she had never signed
any agreement allowing government to dump vehicles on the premises for up to six
months without paying storage fees.
She described the department’s behaviour as bullying tactics and
said: “Are they saying panel-beaters must rent space to government vehicles
for free?”
Dada Motors’ service manager, Stephen Mathobi, said ONE NW was
driven to their premises by the department’s fleet manager, known only as
Strubel, on February 16.
Mathobi said: “We could see it was accident-damaged. We checked it
and we could not do that job. One of our foremen drove it to Luis (Brian’s Auto
Body Shop) as they are BMW-approved.”