Battle for control of e-natis rages on

The battle between Tasima
(which operates the
electronic National Traffic
Information System –
e-natis) and the department
of transport (which wants to
take e-natis over) continues
unabated.
The latest episode in this
bitter and long-standing
saga saw the department
ending up in the Pretoria
high court, and coming
out considerably poorer –
but possibly little wiser.
The court judge
ordered that the DoT pay
Tasima the grand sum of
R176.6 million and had
two of its senior officials
- director-general
George Mahlalela,
and his deputy, Chris
Hlabisa - sentenced to
30 days’ imprisonment
for contempt of court for
ignoring a series of court
orders.
Added to that,
Makhosini Msibi,
head of the Road
Traffic Management
Corporation (RTMC) –
which will be the new
e-natis operator when the
DoT has its way - was also
held in contempt of previous
court orders and hit with a
similar 30-day sentence.
The sentences against the
two DoT officials will be
waived if the department
pays Tasima. Similarly, the
Msibi sentence will also
not be enforced if Tasima
is given full access to the
premises from which the
eNaTIS system is being
operated.
Responding to this, the
department, also having lost
it case before the Supreme
Court of Appeal (SCA), said
it was now approaching
the Constitutional Court.
And the RTMC said that
it was also appealing the
judgement.
But, in turn, the high
court judge said that, while
the respondents may want to
approach the Constitutional
Court, as things now stood
these orders were still in
place and thus enforceable.
The problem about this
on-going court war, and
the DoT threat to take
e-natis over, is what the
transport industry fears
could be a complete collapse
of what is already a pretty
shaky system – mainly due
to various weaknesses,
especially on its receipt and
input of licensing data from
provincial and metropolitan
municipalities.
And, with it being
the central processing
and storage unit for the
country’s network of vehicle
and drivers’ licensing
departments, this would
be a disaster for transport
companies – which rely on
e-natis to keep their trucks
and drivers legally licensed
and on the roads.
And, should the RTMC
finally take over the system,
there is serious doubt that
they will be capable of
keeping it safely and securely
up and running.
As FTW reported
last year, the RTMC has
anything but a good track
record. It has at least
once been reported to be
“technically insolvent”. And,
two years ago, the former
RTMC board was found to
have irregularly spent R360
million and used up R17m
on fruitless and wasteful
expenditure in 2010.
And transport minister
Dipuo Peters admitted
that “a number of
irregularities and instances
of mismanagement of
resources, as well as
maladministration in the
entity”, had been discovered.
Added to this rather
feeble, and possibly corrupt,
governance, its history in
successfully running systems
is also in doubt.
Currently it is in charge
of the Administrative
Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offences (Aarto) system. All
this has done is limp along
for eight years purely as a
pilot scheme in Gauteng.
And ongoing assurances that
it would be going live at a
certain date have all failed,
and the system is still no
nearer going national.