Billions of rands have been lost because of the eNaTIS debacle, which has plunged the automotive industry into chaos, put the brakes on vehicle sales and threatened the future of car rental, trucking and taxi companies.
The fallout from the failure of the department of transport's R400 million eNaTIS licensing system, which has been hit by technical troubles since it was launched last month, has infuriated vehicle owners and motor salesmen and led to demands for a presidential investigation and for the head of Jeff Radebe, the minister of transport.
Motorists are upset because they cannot take possession of their vehicles from car dealers, car sales people who work on commissions have not been paid, insurance companies are unable to insure vehicles without the paperwork eNaTIS was designed to generate, and banks will not settle deals until eNaTIS has printed the vehicle's registration papers.
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The debacle worsened following the disclosure on Friday that Radebe had no knowledge of a report by the office of the auditor-general, issued in December, that warned of eNaTIS chaos, overspending and the potential for fraudulent abuse of the system. The AG's investigation, made at the request of the department of transport, found serious financial and logistical risks in implementing the system.
The development and implementation of the eNaTIS system allegedly went way over budget, resulting in motorists being hit with a R30 fee to make up the shortfall.
This has stoked the widespread anger caused by long queues and delays at vehicle testing stations caused by the failure of the system to work properly.
Motor industry experts told The Sunday Independent that the entire new and used vehicle sales chain had been affected by the cost of the debacle.
"We estimate that about four percent of last month's decline in vehicle sales is attributable to the malfunctioning of the eNaTIS system - that's about R1,5-billion in lost sales," said Jeff Osborne, the head of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation. "We are concerned that May's sales figures will not reach their potential because eNaTIS was totally unreliable and unstable during May," he said.
Motor vehicles sales dropped by 14 000 in April after the government launched its new system to replace the 14-year-old Natis during the Easter holidays.
"It is imperative that the eNaTIS system be stabilised without further delay because if the motor industry crashes the whole South African economy will be adversely affected," Osborne said.
Osborne said further delays in getting the system to work could put smaller vehicle retailers out of business and many of them were already experiencing cash-flow problems.
The transport department's centralised computer licensing system for motor vehicles and drivers' licences affects every sale and change of ownership relating to a motor vehicle, and the renewal of vehicle and drivers' licences.
"Before a dealer can deliver a new or used vehicle to a buyer, the details of the new owner must be recorded on the eNaTIS system.
"New registration documents and licence discs need to be printed by the system. If the system is unavailable for these transactions, dealers cannot conclude the sale of the vehicle and deliver it to the customer, which means that the dealer cannot receive payment for the vehicle from the financing institution," said Osborne.
"There seems to be too much blaming going on - surely someone needs to take responsibility and resolve the matter," said Val van den Bergh, the general manager of the South African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (Savrala).
She said that, since the launching of e-Natis, the association's members had encountered serious problems relating to the relicensing of vehicles and to new vehicle registrations.
"Most of these companies run at optimal utilisation and cannot afford to have that volume of vehicles off the road. They are facing enormous pressures to deliver and are at risk of losing large accounts due to vehicle demand outstripping availability," she said.
She added that Savrala members would collectively lose up to R1,2-million a day if the eNaTIS problem was not resolved.
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