The Western Cape Mobility Department handed over a quarter of its new fleet of 122 specialised high-performance BMWs to the provincial Traffic Law Enforcement Unit, earlier this week.
Also read: 110 BMWs bought by the Western Cape Government stand idle
Western Cape Mobility MEC Ricardo Mackenzie handed over the new specialised and branded vehicles at the N1 Huguenot Toll Plaza on Tuesday.
Features of the specialised BMWs include automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which are directly linked to the National Traffic Information System (NaTIS), providing officers with critical information within seconds.
This handover comes in the wake of requests from the ANC, Cosatu and the Good Party for Mackenzie to provide a full account of why there had been a delay in the handover and why he wasn’t disclosing the number of vehicles.
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In July, provincial ANC mobility spokesperson Lulama Mvimbi asserted that the fleet consisted of 110 vehicles.
Several of the cars, according to him, were in Brackenfell, while the majority were at the Government Garage in Maitland.
The questionable cars were purchased from the face-lifted BMW 3 Series, which was put on sale in South Africa last year. Prices for the models range from the entry-level 318i, which starts at R767 894, to the 320d, which starts at R880 768.
However, during the handover, Mackenzie revealed that the launch of the 31 vehicles would be followed by the release of 91 more ahead of the festive season and upcoming school holidays.
‘The Western Cape is still the only province that has a 24/7 presence of traffic services protecting our roads and actively reducing road crash fatalities. Our Provincial Traffic Law Enforcement was also the first enforcement agency to use in-vehicle technology, pioneering the on-board ANPR cameras over the last few years,’ he said.
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Also read:
ANC calls for probe into BMW fleet tender following MEC’s claims
Picture: Supplied
