Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management was joined by the Economic Opportunities and Asset Management Portfolio Committee Chair, Councillor Anda Ntsodo, and the Director of Fleet Management, Bevan van Schoor, where we visited the City’s fleet management workshops across Cape Town, yesterday, 1 February 2021. The aim was to see first-hand how our upgraded workshops and teams of mechanics are saving residents money and cutting down on turn-around times to repair City vehicles.
Part of my oversight role is to ensure that the City’s strategic assets are utilised with maximum efficiency, ensuring service delivery as well as cost efficiency, ultimately to put tax payers’ money to good use.
The refurbishment and upgrade of the workshops in Ndabeni and Khayelitsha, completed towards the end of last year, together with the upgrade of equipment, tools and IT equipment, will ensure that these facilities deliver efficient services, saving both time and money.
The City’s other two fleet workshops are located in Hillstar and Bellville. Our four workshops together maintain and repair approximately 7 000 fleet vehicles), with the exception of refuse trucks.
Fleet vehicles range from patrol vehicles to utility vehicles and some specialised vehicles including fire trucks, whereas plant and equipment vehicles include digger loaders, bulldozers and front-end loaders among others, as well as smaller plant equipment such as weed eaters and mowers.
The recently acquired flatbed recovery vehicles mean that the City can recover vehicles and do not have to rely on service providers, saving the City time and money. These recovery vehicles also support the 24-hour breakdown team.
He was particularly impressed with the Fleet Apprenticeship programme, which currently has 10 recruits, of which two are women.
He was proud to hear how several women, some of whom have been through the apprenticeship programme, are employed as artisans within the fleet team, and especially that one member is in a supervisory role.
Internal staff are also provided with the opportunity to upskill through training programmes in auto-electrics and motorbike mechanics. This training will also mean that soon, Fleet services will be able to do this type of work in-house.
I would like to congratulate the fleet management team for continuously identifying opportunities to provide maintenance and services in-house, thereby ensuring cost efficiency as well as improved turn-around times so we can continue to deliver services for Cape Town residents.
To view a video on an interview with Tracey Cupido, a Mechanic at Ndabeni, visit