By Moshoeshoe Monare and Wendy Jasson Da Costa
It has cost a fortune, it has malfunctioned since it started and has caused chaos at licensing centres countrywide - now, motorists will have to fork out R30 for transactions.
This fee was announced on Tuesday by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe at a press conference in which he apologised for the disastrous launch of the multimillion-rand electronic traffic information system (eNaTIS). He threatened to sue if the current technical chaos was not sorted out.
Ironically, the contracting consortium is dominated by a government-owned information technology company.
Radebe on Tuesday apologised for the problems Radebe on Tuesday apologised for the problems and promised that traffic fines related to the malfunctioning of the system would be cancelled.
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"Motorists already issued with traffic fines 'due to no fault of their own' will have their fines reviewed on merit and considered for cancellation..." the minister said.
But, at the same time, the government announced on Tuesday that, as from July, motorists and other users of eNatis will have to fork out a R30 transaction fee, which will help to pay for maintenance of the system.
The Tasima consortium, which won the R408-million contract in 2001, is supposed to hand it over to the department at the end of this month, but the technical glitches that created chaos at vehicle licensing centres might see the contractor working beyond the deadline.
Radebe and transport director-general Mpumi Mpofu made it clear on Tuesday that legal action against Tasima would be the final resort if the system was still malfunctioning when it is handed over to the Road Traffic Management Corporation, a departmental agency.
Tasima could not be reached for comment Tasima could not be reached for comment.
Since the introduction of the system in April it has been characterised by technical glitches, slow systems, long queues, backlogs and the closure of traffic centres.
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