Tasima – which has been managing the electronic national administration traffic information system (eNaTIS) on behalf of the Department of Transport (DoT) – could face criminal charges after it failed to meet the hand-over deadline of 13 March.
Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, said in a statement that her office had engaged the Minister of Police to invoke the provisions of the Critical Infrastructure Legislation as Tasima was unlawfully occupying a key point facility, which hosted high-tech equipment containing critical traffic management services and data.
The High Court ruled on November 9 last year to suspend Tasima’s contract with the DoT. Tasima in turn launched an urgent Constitutional Court application for a re-interpretation of the judgement. This was dismissed on February 13, with the ConCourt giving Tasima 30 days to hand over the eNaTIS service to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).
According to Peters, the court decision also granted the DoT leave to approach the court should Tasima commit any act intended to deliberately delay or frustrate the transfer process. She said government would not “sleep nor slumber in getting what is legally a government system”, noting that RTMC had been ready since 3 May 2015 to administer eNatis.
“Their state of readiness has unreasonably been delayed and denied by Tasima, employing tactics informed by their desire to syphon money from the State.
“The court decision was a reconfirmation and a vindication that the Department of Transport and the RTMC are competent enough and ready to execute their mandate without the involvement of third parties,” Peters said.
She dismissed concerns raised by road transport and car manufacturing sectors about whether the RTMC’s computer system was equipped to handle the electronic system.
“In a similar circumstance that involved the production of driving licence cards, the DoT is producing and managing the driving licence system in-house, without the involvement of a third party. This illustrates that government has the capacity, capabilities and dedicated men and women who are committed to serve the people of South Africa,” commented Peters.
It is within this context that Minister Peters believes that Tasima is unlawfully occupying a key point facility, which hosts high-tech equipment containing critical traffic management services and data.
