Gauteng metros have racked up billions of rand in unpaid traffic fines — much of it now written off as irrecoverable — prompting calls for their role in fine collection to be scrapped or for renegotiation of the revenue-sharing model, which they say is financially unsustainable.
Mayors argue that the current system leaves cities carrying the cost of enforcement while the bulk of the revenue flows elsewhere.
Tshwane executive mayor Nasiphi Moya led the charge in parliament this week, saying that they have raised the matter with premier Panyaza Lesufi.
Municipalities are mandated to administer traffic fines and collect the revenue from motorists on behalf of the provincial roads department.
The revenue is then split, with the provincial government taking the lion’s share at 80%, while municipalities only retain 20%. The cities are responsible for funding the vehicles, salaries and fuel used in enforcing traffic laws and say these costs are not covered by their share of the revenue.
Moya called for an overhaul of the system.
“If you were to scrutinise our budget, you would realise that billions are going to functions that over the years have become a mandate of local government even though in the constitution that’s not the case,” she said.
We characterise it as a wrong and improper decision by senior management to discontinue a system without putting in place a system that is working
— Jongizizwe Dlabathi, finance MMC
“We said in Gauteng if it’s going to take a while for the department of transport to take over their function, can we talk about the split and at least increase it from 20% to 40%?”
According to parliament’s standing committee on public accounts chair Songezo Zibi said unpaid fines totalled R3bn for Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg’s estimated debt.
Ekurhuleni has racked up R2.7bn in unpaid fines, which have since been written off. However, their crisis is exacerbated by an administrative fault in their systems.
Finance MMC Jongizizwe Dlabathi told the parliamentary committee last week that an abrupt decision had been taken to discontinue a traffic fine management system before implementing a planned replacement.
“We characterise it as a wrong and improper decision by senior management to discontinue a system without putting in place a system that is working,” he said.
Dlabathi said the city was still issuing speeding tickets, but without a working management system collections were minimal.
The City of Tshwane has written off R633m in unpaid fines, out of a total of R895m. “This is a staggering amount of money, revenue that you could collect. And the metro needs the money in light of the financial difficulties outlined,” said Zibi.
A city official told the committee their system belonged to the department of transport, while the burden of collecting revenue fell on the metro.
“From a systems point of view, the system belongs to the department of transport; from a debtor point of view, the debt lies in the city’s books, which means that the city has an obligation to chase the payment.
“Aarto [the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences] and the road traffic management corporation sit with the fines register.”
Zibi added: “If the Aarto system is not working, it then is something that needs to be taken up because that is revenue where even half of it would go a long way for the metro.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.