The Gauteng government says it has lost at least R1.4bn in unpaid traffic fines due to an elaborate scam at licensing centres that transfer debt to deceased motorists.
A forensic report into the corruption at licensing centres across the province has uncovered that owners of large fleets collude with officials in a fraudulent scam using profiles of dead people in order to avoid paying fines and vehicle licence fees.
The investigation has also revealed that people can buy drivers' licences and learners' licences for R6,500 without setting foot at a testing station. The forensic investigation by Ligwa Advisory Services also pointed fingers at dubious driving schools that clog the online booking system with at least one cellphone number linked to a driving school having more than five bookings at a time.
The damning report was commissioned by the department of transport in Gauteng and focused on the two-year period from April 2019 to July 2021. Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the department had lost R1.4bn through fees dumping and other illicit transactions. Fees-dumping is described as when a vehicle owner pays a bribe to officials to avoid paying outstanding fines and licence disc fees.
Mamabolo said an official would initiate a change of ownership of the vehicle that is in arrears to a new owner, who in most cases is a deceased person or a random person they pick from their data system. The ownership would be returned to the original owner after a while, minus the original debt to the car. The deceased and the random person will be stuck with a new debt of a car they never used.
The motorist would then pay a bribe to the officer for this process.
Mamabolo said the scam thrived at the DLTCs because the eNatis system (National Traffic Information System) used to register vehicles is not linked to the department of home affairs' network, where records of deceased people are kept.
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Makhosini Msibi said they have started a process of recovering the lost money.
“In the report there is mention of the issue of fees dumping. It is something for the consideration of the MEC as well as HOD. As RTMC we've now made an investigation of the amount in relation to the fraudulent transactions that have been made on the eNatis. To that extent, we've written as late as yesterday at 16h55, a proposal that was sent to the HOD in Gauteng of a methodology of how to recover money.”
The state launched the probe in 2021 following allegations of corruption at the DLTCs, which resulted in a huge backlog of people struggling to secure slots to renew their drivers' licences.
From a total of 570,617 bookings made, it was found that there were 2,304 mobile numbers that were used to make online bookings. .
Social media searches were conducted, which revealed individuals advertised to offer the services of booking online slots at a cost of R150 to R200.
In the report, the investigators found that there are no controls to identify or deter possible corruption when examiners conduct the drivers' tests, especially when they leave the premises to conduct the road test.
In most instances, there are no CCTV cameras in the premises of the DLTC which can be monitored to flag irregularities.
Mamabolo said the first intervention that will be made by the department is to increase the number of smart DLTCs, which use solar power and use the latest technology to assist people with their queries quickly. These DLTC take three months to build and are not reliant on Eskom power.
“Once the service is not adequate, it also triggers acts of corruption because the people want the service and the criminals exploit them. We must make this service easily accessible,” Mamabolo said.
He added that those found to have been involved in illegal activity will face the law. “Disciplinary action is top of what we will do and consequence management. We will work with municipalities on consequence management... With immediate effect we should start [with this process],” Mamabolo said.
He said the provincial government will introduce CCTV cameras at all DLTCs in Gauteng to eliminate illegal activities.
“These cameras will be linked to a central place so that we can analyse movement at DLTCs and law enforcement can pounce on them,” he said.
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