Concerns raised over eNatis following latest ruling

Questions have been raised

over whether the eNatis

system – which processes

transactions such as

vehicle licensing and

drivers' licences and stores

the data – may be heading

for a computer-crashing

stop.

The Constitutional

Court recently ruled that

the private company,

Tasima, must hand over

control of this electronic

national administration

traffic information system

(eNatis) to the Road Traffic

Management Corporation

(RTMC).

But the road transport

and car manufacturing

sectors have, for some

time, expressed concerns

about whether the

corporation’s computer

system can handle it.

This fear has just been

accentuated by the

auditor-general, Kimi

Makwetu, in a rather

scathing report of the

state of affairs at the

department of transport

(DoT).

The significance of this

is that the RTMC is what

is described as an “armslength

company” falling

under the DoT. Added

to that is the fact that,

amongst other functions,

vehicle registration and

licensing; vehicle and

roadworthiness testing;

and testing and licensing

of drivers are already

performed on behalf of

the RTMC by the DoT. It

therefore has to be presumed

that the same situation will

apply to eNatis.

But Makwetu, in giving

the department “a qualified

audit with findings”,

expressed the concern that

it "lacked leadership when

it came to enforcing sound

financial management”.

This included eNatis,

with Makwetu adding that

the department’s systems

were “inadequate to ensure

it regularly obtained proper

records of movable tangible

and intangible assets”.

Meanwhile, transport

minister Dipuo Peters,

while welcoming the

Constitutional Court

finding, came up with a piece

of grandiose public relations

babble. She said: “We were

resolute in our commitment

to leave no stone unturned

in the fight to reclaim the

system, ever informed by our

patriotism and unparalleled

love to serve our country.

Indeed, ours is to ensure

that we better the lives of our

citizens and unflinchingly

provide the best service they

deserve.”

But the auditor-general

has cast serious doubts over

whether the citizens will get

what they deserve, pointing

out that the basic systems to

“unf linchingly provide the

best service” may just not

be there.