Johannesburg - The eNatis vehicle registration system website had not been hacked, said the Department of Transport on Thursday.
Spokesperson Collen Msibi said on Thursday afternoon: "The Department of Transport has condemned in the strongest terms the recent news reports purporting that the eNatis website has been hacked."
Earlier in the day, Msibi had said an investigation was underway to establish how a section of the site had been hacked into.
He said the department had asked Tasima, the eNatis service provider, to investigate the allegations relating to the website.
"These allegations are misleading," he said, later in the day.
On Wednesday, when the "how do I" link on the eNatis.com website was clicked, the message "Sorry bro.anda terlambat. Patch By Tao. OK?!!." appeared on an otherwise blank screen.
On Thursday, the "how do I" link was no longer where it had been the day before and appeared to have been removed.
Suggestion is 'laughable'
A news update on the site read: "Some media hype has suggested that the eNatis system was hacked recently.
"This was apparently due to someone leaving a comment on a page of a section of the eNatis public web site (this site).
"The suggestion that eNatis was hacked is actually laughable.
"The eNatis public website is in no way connected at all to the eNatis system. This choice was a deliberate design choice."
Earlier on Thursday, Msibi said hackers had accessed only the public section of the eNatis website, which provided information to the public and allowed for user comment.
Msibi said the eNatis website was a tool of communication with non-secure data and run on a public hosting area.
"The department encourages all members of society to visit the eNatis website to obtain information regarding the various services and updates on the system and the website also allows for interaction with the public."
Msibi also said that the allegations that the site had been hacked would not affect the eNatis system at all.
'Long queues are long over'
"The eNatis website and the eNatis system are two different programmes.
"The department wants to reassure all South Africans that these allegations of hacking have nothing to do with the eNatis system and the system is running optimally with no interruption whatsoever.
"The system has stabilised since the interventions of May 8 and the days of long queues are long over.
"It must also be emphasised that the eNatis system is secured with high-security features such as intrusion-detecting software of high standard."
Msibi could not be reached for comment after the issuing of a press release showing a change of mind about whether the site had been tampered with.
Press reports on News24.com, in Beeld newspaper and Sapa reported that the website had been hacked, or appeared to have been hacked.
The reports did not mention that the system itself had been tampered with.
Beeld wins court case
However, News24 reported that the apparent tampering raised fresh fears about the security of the national system.
In May, the crashing of the eNatis system caused chaos in the licensing system and the fracas ended up in court when the department attempted to prevent Beeld newspaper from reporting on a confidential report about eNatis before it was presented to Parliament.
The newspaper won the case in the Pretoria High Court.
