New system mooted to wipe out illegal vehicle imports

BORDER CONTROL officials will meet members of the motoring industry today (February 27) to thrash out a final document aimed at combating the illegal importanion of motor vehicles into this country. The document will then be presented to government.
It is estimated that between
27 000 and 37 000 cars, bakkies, leisure vehicles and luxury models and between 8 000 and 10 000 trucks are imported illegally into South Africa annually.
Officials of customs and excise, border police, S A Revenue Services and private sector representatives of Business Against Crime, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Motor Industries Federation, the insurance and banking sectors and transport committees have been meeting in this respect.
All the interested parties must subscribe to the document so there is no doubt about the way forward, says Gary McCraw, director of the National Automobile Dealers' Associa-
tion (NADA). McCraw says the main issues to be agreed upon include what is to be done about the importation problem and how to handle it and police problems of illegal used vehicle imports in the future.
There are, he says, mixed feelings about plans for confiscation and amnesty in this respect. Some banks were unwittingly involved in funding illegal vehicle imports while some consumers had unknowingly bought them. Both would suffer loss if these were confiscated and scrapped.
The National Traffic Information System, which was scheduled to have been in operation from January, had been delayed by a few months, he said, and this has been regarded as a possible solution to illegal vehicle imports.
Once all the manufacturers and vehicle importers are on the system, it would prevent illegally imported vehicles or incorrect records being put onto the system, and would prevent the registration of these vehicles, he said.
By Leonard Neill