Report on the assessment of the Misuse and/or abuse of Government-owned vehicles in the Free State Province

03 May 2018

1. BACKGROUND.

In terms of Section 196(4)(a) of the Constitution, 1996, read in conjunction with Sections 9 and 10(1) of the Public Service Commission Act, 1997, the effective and efficient use of State resources is one of the Constitutional Values and Principles (CVPs) which the Public Service Commission (PSC) is mandated to promote. Furthermore, the PSC is mandated to propose measures to ensure effective and efficient performance within the public service. .

Government-owned vehicles are a critical resource and one of the most expensive capital movable assets that are meant to enable Government Departments to provide a range of services to the people who need them. The PSC’s 2015/2016 Factsheet on Financial Misconduct revealed that the misuse and/or abuse of State resources was the second highest type of financial misconducts in the Free State Province..

These financial misconducts included the misuse and abuse of government-owned vehicles, such as driving government-owned vehicles without authorization, undertaking unauthorized trips, the conveying of unauthorized passengers, travelling to unauthorized destinations, negligent or reckless driving which often led to accidents, not following proper trip authorization processes, etc. As one would expect, the misuse and abuse of government vehicles have a negative impact on the efficiency of government to deliver services.

In this context, the PSC conducted an assessment of the reported misuse and/or abuse of government-owned vehicles in the Free State Province. The assessment was conducted during the 2017/2018 financial year, and the broad aim of the project was to assess the extent of the misuse and/or abuse of government-owned vehicles in the province. The outcomes of the assessment are dealt with in the sections below.

2. PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT TO THE MEC: POLICE, ROADS AND TRANSPORT

The assessment has been successfully completed and a report with findings and recommendations has been produced. The report was presented to the MEC responsible for Police, Roads and Transport in the Free State Province, Mr S Mashinini, on 06 February 2018 - for the Department as the custodian of government-owned vehicles in the province, to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations. The Fleet Management Entity (FME), commonly known as the Government Garage (GG) - which is responsible for the provision of motor transport to the Departments, was subsequently instructed to facilitate the implementation of the PSC’s recommendations by the MEC.

Since all 12 Departments in the Province are one way or another responsible for implementing the recommendations, the PSC also felt it necessary to send the report to the Director-General (DG): Provincial Government in the Premier’s Office and all Heads of Department (HoDs), for them to comment on the findings. In addition and most importantly, the PSC has requested the DG and HoDs to develop action plans detailing the steps they will take to implement the recommendations relevant to their individual Departments.

The expectation is that the action plans will/would have been developed by 11 May 2018 and the implementation of the recommendations will/would have commenced by 31 May 2018. The report was also copied to all the Members of the Executive Council (MECs) for their cognizance. Furthermore, the PSC hereby encourages the MECs in their capacities as Executive Authorities (EAs) to comment and/or engage the PSC on its findings and recommendations in support of the work that the PSC has started. For the recommendations to find real expression in the Departments and have the required impact, the cooperation of the MECs will be important in this regard.

3. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The findings of the PSC are outlined below.

3.1 Internal control measures

Internal control measures must be put in place to manage and monitor the use of government-owned vehicles.

7 out of 12 Departments have transport policies. This represents 58% of good practice. The fact that 42% of the Departments do not have transport policies is a weakness in the management of government-owned vehicles in the province.
Some Departments have not assigned full-time transport officers at the component, district and local levels to control the use of government-owned vehicles at those specific branches.
Some participants indicated that the transport officers do not regard the vehicle inspections as their job, and as a consequence do not take the duty to inspect vehicles seriously.
In terms of Item 2(iv) of the National Transport Policy, the trip authorisation forms must not run longer than one week at a time. However, the PSC found that there were trip authorisation forms that were issued for up to a month. This opens the process to possible abuse wherein drivers may use the vehicles issued to them for private purposes.
It was found that in some instances, government vehicles were driven without the approved trip authorisation forms. It is not known how this was possible, because in terms of the policy, transport officers issue government vehicles only if a signed trip authorisation form has been produced.
Also, there were instances where times or places visited were not reflected in the log sheets. This might have been deliberately done in order to cover-up the use of government vehicles for reasons other than official purposes.
Even in cases of blatant misuse of government vehicles, the communities were not able to report because there were no telephone numbers to report the misuse to the authorities. The use of red-registration numbers as the only form of branding on government vehicles in the Province is not sufficient.

3.2 Fleet information management

There is an Accident Management System (AMS) at the FME/GG to register all reported accidents, the dates on which the accidents took place and their nature. However, the causes of accidents are not always known at the time of the registration and as a result are not recorded on the AMS.
Therefore, it is difficult to establish whether the accidents are caused by the negligent or reckless driving, which amounts to misconduct.
The FME/GG could not confirm if it compiles, analyses and keeps monthly, quarterly and yearly reports in respect of the misuse or abuse of government vehicles. As long as there is a lack of proper information management system/s in place, the reporting of incidents of misuse or abuse of government-owned vehicles is not going to be effective.
It is therefore clear that where the incidents of this nature occurred, because they were not formally documented, they might never be reported. According to the participants, even when they are reported, senior management hardly takes any action, because they are themselves involved in instructing messengers/drivers to do personal errands for them, during and after working hours, and even on weekends.

3.3 Accidents reported for the 2016/2017 financial year

The information below presents the findings on accidents as recorded in the AMS for the 2016/2017 financial year.

There was a total number of 1021 accidents reported to the FME/GG and registered in the AMS for the 2016/2017 financial year. This number is considerably high given the fact that according to the FME/GG, there are approximately 2427 government vehicles under its care and leased to all the Departments in the Province.
This means that in only one year, approximately 42% of the fleet leased to Departments was in one way or another involved in road accidents and damaged.
Of the 1021 accidents reported, the Department of Health recorded the highest number of accidents at 41% (416) followed by the Department of Police, Roads and Transport at 17% (177) and the Department of Education at 12% (122).
The Department of Social Development recorded a significant number of accidents at 7% (67), followed by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure at 5% (55), DESTEA at 5% (46), the Department of the Premier at 4% (42), the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation at 3% (33) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at 3% (25).
The Department of Human Settlements recorded the lowest number of accidents at 1% (17), followed by COGTA at 1% (13).
It must be noted that the Departments that recorded the highest number of accidents are, possibly due to their size, allocated larger fleets than the Departments that recorded the lowest number of accidents. It must also be noted that a large number of vehicles involved in accidents were vehicles allocated to the Emergency Services from the FSDoH and Traffic Management from the FSDPRT.
Notwithstanding this, the rate of accidents reported in the province for 2016/2017 was too high, and drastic measures must be taken by the Provincial Government to curb this problem.

3.4 Costs of repairs of damaged vehicles for the 2016/2017 financial year

To determine the money that the government relatively spends each year on repairs for the damaged government vehicles due to accidents, the FME/GG was requested to provide the PSC with the costs of repairs for the 2016/2017 financial year. The FME/GG carries the costs for the repairs of damaged vehicles as a result of accidents.

An amount of R11 405 304. 84 was spent by the FME/GG in the 2016/2017 financial year to pay for the repairs of damaged government vehicles that were involved in accidents or incidents.
The highest costs of repairs amounting to R3 980 073. 84 were recorded by the Department of Health, followed by the FME/GG at R 2 581 283. 16. The Department of Police, Roads and Transport recorded the third highest costs of repairs at R1 407 155. 66, followed by the Department of Education at R1 007 932. 61.
The Department of Social Development recorded substantial costs of repairs at R524 295. 25, followed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at R372 032. 11.
It should be noted that the cost of repairs recorded by Departments and the FME/GG during the 2016/2017 financial year is not necessarily linked to the number of accidents recorded in the same year.
The lowest costs of repairs were recorded by COGTA and Provincial Treasury at R187 515. 79 and R28 243. 61, respectively.
It is concerning that such huge amounts of state money, which could be used to improve the existing fleet management systems, were spent on repairs of vehicle damages.
The interviewed officials indicated that most of these accidents occurred as a result of incompetent drivers and drivers who disobey the traffic rules because there are no modern systems such as tracking devices in place to closely monitor the behaviour of the drivers when they are on the road.
The officials indicated that the installation of the tracking devices and improved branding of government vehicles would contribute to the decrease in operational costs, as the misuse and abuse of government vehicles and the resultant vehicle damages and costs of repairs would decrease over time.

3.5 Misconduct cases relating to the misuse and/or abuse of government vehicles

The assessment also sought to determine whether the Departments take disciplinary actions against the drivers for the misuse and/or abuse of government vehicles. The following was found:

17 acts of misconduct in respect of the misuse and/or abuse of government vehicles were recorded for the 2016/2017 financial year.
The FSDoE had the highest number of cases of misconduct relating to the misuse of government vehicles at 6, followed by the FSDoH with 3 cases.
The sanctions meted out on all the 17 misconduct cases ranged from the final written warnings to suspensions without pay, demotions and dismissals.
15 of the cases involved employees who were at salary level 8 and below.
Labour Relations officials indicated that acts of misconduct relating to the misuse or abuse of government vehicles are hardly reported to their directorates by transport officers or supervisors, or are reported months after the incident has taken place.
It was also mentioned that the Departments were struggling to identify the acts of misuse and abuse of government vehicles, because the internal controls were not as effective as they should be and were easily manipulated.

3.6 Training of the drivers

Item 7.5.1 of the Transport Policy of the FSDPRT, 2015, requires all new drivers to undergo the departmental driver training programme, and pass the competency test before they can be allowed to drive a government vehicle.
However in other Departments the driver with a valid driver’s license is not trained nor tested for driving competencies as it is deemed that if a person is issued with a driver’s licence, that person is automatically fit to drive a government vehicle.
In all the Departments general information sessions and users’ workshops on transport usage were regularly held with all the relevant officials. However, what was not clear is whether these Departments provide their drivers with supplemental advanced training.
Only the FSDPRT and Provincial Treasury indicated that they had recently provided their drivers with an advanced driver training programme, in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The non-provision of advanced driving training most likely explains the rate of accidents reported, where it was found that 1021 government vehicles were, in one year, involved in accidents.
Advanced driver training assists in minimising the risks and costs associated with driving government vehicles because it also focuses on safety awareness and ways of reducing fleet operational costs, such as fuel-efficient driving techniques.

3.7 Random observation of government vehicles

To gather first-hand and empirical information on the misuse and/or abuse of government vehicles, random observations were also conducted, particularly on weekends, over the period of May and June 2017.

On 101 occasions, government vehicles were spotted at different locations in the province. Subsequently, Departments were requested to provide trip authorisation forms and log sheets in order for the PSC to verify if the vehicles were being used for official purposes at the time they were spotted.
The scrutiny of the trip authorisation forms and log sheets provided by the Departments revealed that some of the vehicles may have been used without the requisite authorisation and/or for unofficial purposes on 67 occasions.
Accordingly, the PSC has requested all the Departments concerned to investigate all 67 occurrences and provide reports to the PSC on the outcomes of their investigations within 90 days from the receipt of the PSC’s report.
Accordingly, the PSC has requested all the Departments concerned to investigate all 67 occurrences and provide reports to the PSC on the outcomes of their investigations within 90 days from the receipt of the PSC’s report.
Given the nature of the work of the officers from the RTM and EMS Divisions, the PSC will in due course propose the introduction of special rules/procedures to deal with the issuing and management of government-owned vehicles used by these officers.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS

The proposed recommendations seek to assist the Departments to address the challenges identified throughout the assessment. The recommendations are:-

The approval and issuing of trip authority forms for more than a week must be prohibited to prevent the general misuse and/or abuse of government vehicles, this includes the possible renting or lending of government vehicles to private persons. This is in line with item 2(iv) of the National Transport Policy.
The trip authority forms must be strictly signed and approved by the designated authority before any trip is undertaken.
Log books must, as prescribed in the rules, be filled after each and every trip by all the drivers including staff members (e.g. protectors, messengers) located in the offices of the EAs/HoDs, and checked by supervisors and transport officers.
The Transport Directorates must ensure that government vehicles are thoroughly inspected prior and after each official trip.
The FME/GG indicated that the tracking devices will be procured and installed in all the government-owned vehicles in the Province before the end of the 2017/2018 financial year (The FME/GG has already concluded the Request for Proposals process for the tracking system).
Government vehicles must be branded and a telephone number must be displayed on each vehicle for the public to report alleged misuse or abuse.
The FSDPRT and FME/GG must develop a uniform reporting template for purposes of monitoring the misuse and/or abuse of government-owned vehicles. The reporting template should provide for detailed reporting on vehicle accidents, including the nature and causes, damages and repair costs, impoundments, traffic offences and other forms of vehicle misuse and abuse.
New drivers who are about to drive the departmental vehicles for the first time must undergo competency and medical testing, to ascertain their levels of fitness to drive government vehicles.
Where there are no local transport officers appointed, the Departments must ensure that the driver or official or the employee in charge of the government vehicle(s) at that local office assumes the duties of the local transport officer.
The FME/GG and Departmental Transport Directorates must strengthen the working relations between them.
All occurrences of accidents, misuse or abuse of government vehicles must also be reported to the Labour Relations and Legal Services sections within 48 hours of occurring.
The FME/GG, in consultation with the FSDPRT, must as a matter of urgency review its 2016 policy on the utilization of government motor vehicles.
The Departments that do not have transport policies must develop them and the policies older than 3 years must be reviewed.
The FSDPRT must ensure that there are no contradictions between the provisions of the National Transport Policy and departmental transport policies. For example, all Departments must subject new drivers of government vehicles to a competency test.
The incidences where officials may have driven government vehicles without authority and for unofficial purposes must be investigated. Where there is evidence of wrongdoing, the officials must be subjected to a formal disciplinary process.
The HoDs must submit action plans to the PSC within 30 days of receipt of this report on the processes the Departments will take in regard to the investigations and disciplinary actions recommended.
The Departments must immediately investigate vehicle accidents and their causes. Drivers who are responsible for the accidents must be taken through a disciplinary process.
The FME/GG and Departments must ensure that the drivers who caused the accidents bear the responsibility for paying back the money used to pay for the repairs. The FME/GG and Departments must not compromise on this.

5. WAY FORWARD

The assessment was not only about finding challenges or faults, it was also about exploring and finding ways for improved fleet management, such as those elaborated on in Chapter 2 and 3 of the report. It is therefore hoped that the relevant lessons extrapolated in these two Chapters will assist in the improvement of fleet management at the FME/GG and within Departments. In instances where valid evidence of the misuse and/or abuse of government-owned vehicles has been found and ventilated, Departments are expected to act and take disciplinary steps against those responsible for the misconducts, including the transport officers who would have, in certain instances, also failed to diligently perform their transport control duties. The PSC will also continue to exercise its oversight function in this regard.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The PSC wishes to express its gratitude to all the MECs, Heads of Department, Transport Authorities and other departmental personnel in the Free State Provincial Government for their support and contributions during the assessment, without which the project would not have been possible to complete. We also wish to extend our appreciation to the members of the FME/GG for their support.

Issued by the Public Service Commission

For enquiries, please contact: Mr Humphrey Ramafoko; Tel: (012) 352 1196; Cell: 082 782 1730; Email: humphreyr@opsc.gov.za

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