Durban: Motorists who have outstanding traffic warrants in Pietermaritzburg could be in hot water as the Msunduzi Municipality wants to reintroduce the number plate recognition system to catch those who are not paying their municipal traffic fines.
The municipality wants to reintroduce the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to recover millions of rand owed for traffic violations.
The system was abandoned a few years ago because of manpower shortages.
The plans are contained in a confidential report about Safe City, the company that manages the city’s surveillance cameras.
Msunduzi Municipality provides operational as well as capital funding for the entity.
There is a dedicated operational desk that has been made available solely for the purpose to detect by-law infringements such as littering, as well as to monitor traffic flow during peak hours.
Msunduzi is in desperate need of revenue. It is faced with a ballooning consumer debt that is close to R5 billion which has been cited as a danger that could imperil the municipality financially.
The Safe City report said the reintroduction of the ANPR system would help the city generate much needed revenue.
“The reintroduction of the ANPR is urgently requested as much needed revenue from outstanding traffic warrants can be collected using the Safe City surveillance system.
“It is estimated that more than R11 million is outstanding in traffic warrants revenue.
“ANPR operations which were conducted between 2010-11 and 2013-14 recovered R4.3 million, unfortunately the operations were stopped due to manpower shortages,” said the report.
ACDP councillor Rienus Niemand said the reintroduction of the system would be a positive move.
“Safe City should be an asset and the cameras must be used for all the purposes that it was originally intended for. Fighting crime, by-law enforcement, number plate recognition.
“Number plate recognition can be used to trace stolen vehicles, collect outstanding fines, debt collection etc.
“The safe city camera system has been a liability that costs the municipality millions every year. With proper management this asset can be turned around to serve the people of Pietermaritzburg,” he said.
DA councillor Sibongiseni Majola said bringing back the number plate recognition system was a fantastic idea and could help the traffic unit to generate much needed revenue.
At the moment, he said, the unit was struggling to meet its needs.
“Safe cities can read number plates, but if there is no response from the municipality law enforcement side to pursue and stop the cars that are owing), the whole exercise will become a useless exercise,” Majola said.
He said in the past, the municipality collected as much as R17m in fines for by-law infringement that included traffic violations but over the recent years, that has dropped significantly.
Msunduzi mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla said there was no final decision taken on the matter as it was still being discussed in committees.
The Mercury