Don’t worry about Joburg speed cameras — None are working
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has not been issuing fines for speeding infringements caught on any of its fixed or manually-operated cameras for almost a year.
This admission came from the JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla in an interview with eNCA.
Fihla was responding to a tweet from YFM digital manager Hilton Tarrant, who said there were no active speed cameras in the City of Joburg because the tender hadn’t been awarded yet.
Tarrant included a screenshot of a tender published by the city for a service provider of enforcement and crash management systems.
Fihla confirmed that all of the speed cameras in the metro were currently inactive.
This was because the city’s contract with its previous service provider, Syntell, ended on 31 May 2021, and the tender for the new contract is only expected to be finalised in about three months.
The admission comes after a report from Sunday newspaper Rapport in October 2021 that JMPD and Tshwane Metro Police Department had not loaded any camera fines for speed infringement on Natis in three months.
Two firms that administer traffic penalties for more than 500 company fleets in Gauteng told the newspaper that only a few handwritten fines had been loaded.
At the time, Road Traffic Infringement Agency spokesperson Monde Mkalipi also told Rapport that the issue in Johannesburg was related to the expiration of the Syntell contract.
Mkalipi said that, as a result, JMPD officers had to load fines on the system manually.
Fihla said that the city was losing approximately R3 million per month in revenue typically accrued from fines because of the issue.
That works out to R33 million for the 11 months in which the cameras have been inactive.
However, he emphasised the major concern was that the lack of fines meant there was one less deterrent to discourage reckless driving and bring down road fatalities.
He said he could not elaborate on the circumstances that led to the contract not being renewed on time — or who was responsible for it.
The tender for a new service provider closed on 13 April 2022, following an extension from 22 March 2022.
Joburg is hoping that a new contract will be ready by July 2022.