NGQUZA HILL MUNICIPALITY

TURNS TO BELL TO BOOST ITS FLEET

The Ngquza Hill Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape has invested in its yellow machine fleet, adding two excavators and a Bell Articulated Tractor over an eighteen-month period. This follows a decision by the municipality’s council that the maintenance of roads and other infrastructure should take place in-house and, as far as possible, without the use of contractors.

The municipality lies in one of the most picturesque parts of the Eastern Cape where deep valleys separate towering hills with traditional homesteads dotting the countryside. The municipality serves both Flagstaff and Lusikisiki, the latter which lies further south. There are 32 voter wards across the two towns in which some 333 000 people live, according to the most recent census.

The Ngquza Hill Local Municipality’s Technical Manager, Asanda Hlehliso, is a qualified civil engineer with postgraduate qualifications, and in an ideal position to explain the municipality’s many duties. “We as the technical department oversee the maintenance and repair of much of the infrastructure in both Flagstaff and Lusikisiki, which includes public spaces, parks, sports fields, cemeteries, solid waste dump sites and a massive 981km of gravel roads. The gravel road network is vitally important as it grants our citizens access to their homes, schools and places of business, relaxation and worship,” she says. “When the council decided that we were to do the maintenance ourselves, we realised that we’d need to add to our yellow equipment fleet to do this effectively.”

Asanda, in her capacity as department head, put together a technical committee consisting of herself and colleagues Pathuo Nqezo, the Senior Roads Foreman, and Gugu Ndwabu, the Roads Foreman, to do a needs analysis of what equipment was most urgently needed. They decided they most needed an excavator.

Fortunately, the Ngquza Hill Local Municipality could leverage an RT57 agreement with Bell Equipment and, through the supplier’s Public Sector

Sales Representative, Fundile Ntsinde, they gained valuable insight into what excavator model would work well for them.

“Working with our supply chain division, we put forward criteria such as price, availability, technical backup and previous experience –all conditions which Bell Equipment met easily. Although we initially thought to buy a 20-ton excavator, Fundile recommended that we rather consider a 30-ton machine that could handle heavier work given the vast number of roads we have to maintain as well as water and drainage infrastructure that was under pressure with the recent heavy rainfall.”

Their choice ultimately fell on a JCB JS305 Excavator which was delivered on 26 October 2023, and they are not disappointed. “We’re happy that we trusted Fundile’s advice as we’re extremely satisfied with the JCB JS305 Excavator’s performance,” said Asanda.

Standardising the fleet with Bell Equipment supports smoother servicing, quicker access to spares, and greater reliability for Ngquza Hill’s infrastructure projects.

She mentions that another consideration in their forward planning was to obtain as much yellow machine equipment as is possible from one supplier to smooth the way forward for the mechanic position that was recently filled. “We believe that we’ll reduce potential downtime on machine servicing and repair if we must only deal with one supplier and it should make the keeping of essential consumable spares and service kits easier. In this case we’d be well satisfied if that supplier could be Bell Equipment in keeping with the older Bell 770G Grader and Bell 315SL Backhoe Loader that we already have. We’re also confident that with Bell Equipment having a well-stocked depot in nearby Mthatha, our machines’ maintenance will be prioritised.”

Roads Foreman, Gugu Ndwabu adds: “Our operator took to the JCB JS305 Excavator easily and reports that the controls are smooth and responsive. We’ve been excavating road-fill material that it loads into tipper trucks and despite this relatively heavy and constant work, the machine’s miserly fuel burn has surprised us as we’re averaging around 19,6 litres an hour.”

The municipality followed up with a Kobelco SK220XD-10 Excavator at the end of May 2024 and a Bell 2304E Articulated Tractor in February 2025. The Kobelco Excavator was delivered to the Lusikisiki landfill site for refuse removal, waste disposal, and excavating of the site while the Bell Articulated Tractor is used in the Flagstaff area for crushing and compacting soil on gravels roads.

“These are challenging yet exciting times for us in the Technical Department and we’re certainly setting out to not disappoint our principals and the citizens of our towns in terms of our commitment to service delivery,” Asanda concludes.