Maphumulo is an isiZulu name meaning ‘place of rest,’ but the Bell G140 Eco Grader will not be resting as it works to maintain the municipality’s road infrastructure.
Bell Equipment’s eThekwini Branch Manager, Fortune Matsobane, recalls that, in 2023, when he was the company’s KZN Public Sector Sales Representative, he together with Tasveer Singh, Bell eThekwini’s CSC Customer Support Representative, approached Nomonde Mbatha, the municipality’s Senior Civil Engineering Technician in the Technical Services Department.
“Our presentation focused on the value proposition that Bell provides both as a proudly South African OEM and an equipment supplier. As an OEM, Bell offers a wide range of aftermarket services such as Bell Care Package contracts, extended warranties, a remanufacturing facility, training, parts and lubricants.
“Bell Equipment Sales South Africa (BESSA) – the equipment supplier – is a B-BBEE Level 1 contributor with a network of 23 Bell Customer Service Centres throughout South Africa, giving it the largest support footprint.”
The Bell Graders are supplied by the Bell factory in Richards Bay, which supports a value chain of more than 1 000 suppliers in the country, of which over 450 are KZN-based.
BESSA participates directly in the National Treasury Transversal Contract RT57, which makes it easier for public sector entities to buy directly from Bell, and all the groundwork paid off eventually when Maphumulo Local Municipality placed their order via the RT57 protocols.
“At that stage the new Grader was still in production, but the municipality waited patiently for four months because they believed it is crucial to support a local brand, especially one that is on their doorstep in KZN. We have no doubt that the performance and productivity of the Bell Grader will prove to have been worth the wait,” said Fortune.
More about Maphumulo Local Municipality
The municipality is one of four local municipalities in the iLembe District of KwaZulu-Natal and constitutes almost a third of the district’s geographical area. The municipality is predominantly rural, mostly comprising tribal land administered by the Ngonyama Trust on behalf of the local communities.
