Johannesburg - The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) is prepared to pay only half of the R32 million bill it owes the SA Post Office (Sapo).
This is according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters in a written reply on Monday to questions by Freedom Front Plus (FF+) Gauteng provincial leader advocate Anton Alberts in Parliament.
Last month, The Star reported on how motorists had not received notifications through the post that their vehicle licence discs were up for renewal because of the dispute in payment.
And while Peters said at the time that the matter had been resolved and that there should no longer be delays, she, however, indicated in her most recent response in Parliament that both parties had yet to reach a settlement on the amount owed.
The minister said in her response that the RTIA had not paid Sapo due to the dispute regarding proof of services rendered. Sapo and the RTIA had been in discussions regarding the matter, Peters said.
Of the R32 408 981.98 bill, the minister said half of it would be paid this month while the remaining 50 percent would be paid “once the two parties have come to an agreement about the settlement amount”.
Last month, DA spokesman on transport Manny de Freitas said he had received many complaints countrywide about the issuing of vehicle licence renewals, with many having received fines for driving with expired licence discs, “through no fault of the own”.
Peters said the sending out of courtesy letters to Sapo for postage was suspended by the RTIA in August 2015, and the suspension of postage of enforcement order notifications effected in November.
Since January, no renewal notices had been sent out.
Alberts asked whether the lack of issuing notices was influencing the legality of the notices, to which Peters cited the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, that infringement notices had to be served on the alleged infringer within 40 days.
The Star