The City of Cape Town is considering, "as a matter of urgency", a municipal by-law that would give a section 21 company the power to clamp the wheels of vehicles parked illegally in the city centre.
Lawyer Carl Lindenberg presented a legal opinion on the issue to the Cape Town council's executive committee on Tuesday.
A by-law should provide for signs to be placed around the city warning motorists that illegal parking could lead to wheel clamping.
The council is expected to formally announce its intention to implement the by-law by November 16, but people will have 21 days to object.
Drivers will not be able to have the clamp unlocked until they have paid a fine. But the inconvenience of not being able to move the car is seen as the major punishment.
Although no set fine had been determined, Lindenberg recommended that the by-law contain the wording "a fee determined by the council from time to time".
In London, where clamping is frequent, fines of up to £40 (about R440) had been imposed, said a Democratic Party councillor, Belinda Walker.
Although vehicles could be clamped on private property, like the University of Cape Town, there was no existing legislation in the Cape Town metro area dealing with clamping on public roads.
The Cape Town Partnership, a section 21 company, made proposals to deal with curbside parking, including clamping, in a report presented to the council on October 20.
The Cape Town Partnership last week also opened the city's first improvement district, a legal agreement involving the council, the partnership and property owners, to address crime and grime.
Clamping plans, coupled with a city council announcement on Monday that the closed circuit television camera project had been extended to deal with traffic violations of municipal by-laws, hints at a major crackdown on illegal parking.
There are 72 cameras in central Cape Town.
The city is divided into six zones, with 12 cameras in each zone. Images picked up by the cameras are automatically recorded. Television screens are monitored at an operations centre and, when an operator picks up any violation of the law, the reaction time of a security unit on standby is between 30 seconds and 60 seconds.
The executive committee decided after hearing Lindenberg's legal opinion on clamping that a draft of the by-law be presented to the committee on November 14. If approved, the by-law would be presented to a full council meeting two days later.
After councll had formally indicated its intention to implement the legislation, the public and other interested parties would have 21 days to object.
This meant that the new Cape Town unicity would have to oversee the implementation of the by-law, Lindenberg said.
The by-law was expected to address issues raised by councillors like whether a vehicle may be towed away and clamped in a pound; avenues open to motorists if their vehicles were damaged while being clamped or unclamped; and parking temporarily to offload goods or passengers.