Durban - Road traffic transgressors in eThekwini will have to pay the full amount of their fines as of 1 April after three years of a 50 percent amnesty on fine payments comes to an end.
The move comes after the National Prosecuting Authority instructed the municipality early in March to put the brakes on the amnesty, saying the practice brought the “criminal justice system into disrepute”.
Presenting the report to exco on Wednesday, city manager Sbu Sithole said: “We previously took a decision to encourage the payment of outstanding fines by reducing the fines by 50 percent, but since then there’s been a letter from the prosecutions authority asking that this be reviewed. We are required to rescind that previous decision with effect from 1 April.”
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The instruction, Sithole said, meant motorists with outstanding fines would now have to pay the full amount.
Aggrieved motorists will have to make “representation to the presiding officer to determine whether the whole fine, or part of the fine, should be paid,” he said.
The NPA argues that the sole purpose of the incentive was an “attempt” to collect outstanding revenue and had “nothing to do with promoting road safety”.
The municipality introduced the incentive in December 2012, but with no end date, something that did not sit comfortably with the prosecuting authority.
In a letter to the city’s deputy heads, Malusi Mhlongo (litigation) and Rajen Reddy (metro police’s traffic and safety), the provincial director of public prosecutions, Moipone Noko, instructed the city to scrap the amnesty.
When the council approved the incentive in 2012, it said the resolution would be terminated upon the implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, which includes an incentive for payment of a fine. The implementation of the act has been delayed for several years, but it will take effect from April.
Noko said continued support for the incentive “cannot be justified”.
“The reduction of fines must only be considered upon receipt from the offender of written representations,” she said.
The implementation of the act is scheduled for 1 April, but Noko said her withdrawal would stand, regardless of the whether the act was implemented or not.
Everybody with an outstanding fine will have to pay the full amount or make representation to the presiding officer to determine whether the whole fine, or part, should be paid.
Sithole said the municipality had no objection to the instruction, adding that it was “not extraordinary”.
“It is in line with the role of the prosecuting authority,” he said.
‘CONFUSION AND UNHAPPINESS’
DA councillor Heinz de Boer said the city did not have much of a choice.
“We are being instructed.”
He said the city should gear itself for “a lot of confusion and unhappiness from the public”.
“The information has to be disseminated to the communities and at our Sizakala Centres so there’s no confusion. It will have an impact on how many people actually pay their fines. We should continue as a city to issue fines to people who don’t obey road rules.”
Boy Zondi, KwaZulu-Natal spokesman for the South African National Taxi Council, said the taxi industry would be hit hard.
He said the organisation would monitor the programme and take it up with the NPA should the new arrangement negatively affect the industry.
“This 50 percent was helping the industry big time. It encouraged us to pay fines. What you are telling me is a loss to the industry.”
He said court process would be “time consuming”, and called for authorities to “reconsider”.
Caro Smit, founder and director of South Africans Against Drink Driving, supported the NPA’s instruction to eThekwini, saying traffic fines in South Africa were “too lenient”.
“I don’t think there should be any reduction in fines. People should go court and they should either increase the fine or make them pay the full fine. But unfortunately the Justice Department does not take road safety as the serious crime that it is and often reduces fines,” she said.
It was “not correct” that traffic fines go into municipal coffers - the money should be used for road safety.
She repeated Noko’s point that municipalities were using traffic fine revenue for “making money”.
“If they want the money, the money should be used to get more traffic officers and have them on duty for 24 hours of the day. They should concentrate less on speeding and more on drinking and driving - every day of the year, especially on weekends, “ she said.
The Mercury