The Eastern Cape Transport Department said debt collectors will be employed by its East London-based Back Office, to help recoup more than R93m in outstanding fines and warrants.
In a written reply to questions from the DA in the Bhisho Legislature, MEC, Weziwe Tikana, acknowledged that the Back Office was not sufficiently resourced.
She said the current personnel are employed by a consultant with a project manager being seconded from the Department's head office.
Tikana said the Back Office began operating in December 2015 to process all fines and district warrants for the Eastern Cape.
She also said that “monthly warrant statistics” were not available and has been requested from the Department of Justice as it is generated by the DOJ.
In response to a question about the success of the Back Office in collecting fines, MEC, Tikana said that “the Back Office will be engaging the services of a debt collector to collect fines through roadblock operations and easy payment methods”.
Tikana also revealed that the Back Office had “tracked and traced the payment of fines from the Department of Justice and established that some monies had been paid to SARS (SA Revenue Service) instead of the Department”.
The MEC said “engagements are continuous in an attempt to change the situation and recover those monies from SARS where possible”.
DA MPL, Marshall von Buchenroder, said “the Eastern Cape lost out on potential revenue of R93.3-million from traffic fines and warrants in the last two financial years,” according to the MEC’s replies.
“The DA believes that in our current economic climate, it is important to ensure that any prospective revenue for the province is efficiently managed,” he said.
He said he had written to MEC Tikana and the chairperson of the legislature’s portfolio committee on Transport, Ntombizodwa Xhanti, to ensure that the necessary personnel will be employed to efficiently utilise the back office.
