R40m loss caused by eNaTIS

(Article from iol.co.za)

Traffic system eNaTIS may be responsible for the Beaufort West municipality’s loss of R40-million in outstanding traffic fines, papers filed in the Cape High Court revealed.

The papers, filed by Traffic Environment Services and Technologies (Test) - the company the municipality appointed to collect the fines - show the system allegedly captured motorists’ details incorrectly or failed to update their changes of address.

The company is opposing an application for its liquidation lodged by the firm of attorneys it had contracted to do the collections.

The firm, Munnik Basson Dagama Incorporated, alleges that Test owes it R1,15-million but Test denies this.

In an affidavit filed at the High Court, Test director Steven Jaftha said the company operates four fixed cameras and two mobile cameras.

Once a picture of an offending vehicle is taken, it is downloaded on to a computer and presented to a traffic officer who checks whether the picture is sufficient to make a case against the motorist.

The information used to prosecute the drivers are then loaded on the eNaTIS traffic system, which includes a database of all vehicles in South Africa.

The licence plate number is then matched to the name and details of the vehicle’s owner.

The details are then placed onto a separate system which is designed to print notices to motorists to pay a fine.

The notice is sent to the address on the e-Natis system.

Several notices are sent before a summons is issued.

The eNaTIS system sometimes lists addresses which were outdated or incorrect.

When this occurs, summonses are re-issued if the server updates the address.

However, in most cases, the summonses are not re-issued and these debts then form part of the “old book”, he said.

Jaftha said the old book grew larger on a daily basis.

Test obtained a contract with the Beaufort West municipality to collect the old book, which, according to him, comprised 128 000 outstanding fines to the value of R40-million.

Test obtains a service fee once the municipality receives payment from the motorist.

Jaftha said Test had difficulty in collecting the old book because information had been incorrectly recorded on eNaTIS.

This prompted Test to negotiate an agreement with MBD to collect the old book as it had access to credit control systems and databases to trace drivers.

Jaftha said Test received an invoice for R1,7-million from MBD in November last year and it was passed on to the municipality.

However, the municipality’s financial manager queried the amount. Test calculated it should have been R239 000.

Jaftha said he later discovered that MBD had gone behind his back and negotiated a contract with the municipal manager, claiming Test was in serious financial difficulty.

Test and MBD decided to part ways. He asked the court to dismiss the application.

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