Joburg and Pretoria speeding cameras out of action
Speed cameras across Johannesburg and Pretoria have been non-operational for more than a year as no service provider has been appointed to process fines.
In April 2022, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla admitted that traffic officers had issued no fines since May 2021.
City Press spoke to the Automobile Association of SA’s Layton Beard, who said it is critical that speed cameras be in place.
Beard said speed cameras are essential traffic calming devices, and having them out of commission for so long raises questions about authorities’ commitments to road safety.
In April, Fihla confirmed that none of the speed cameras in Johannesburg were active because a tender to operate process fines was still being finalised.
The estimated loss in revenue from uncollected fines was R33 million.
The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) contract with its previous service provider Syntell lapsed on 31 May 2021.
Two companies administering road traffic fines to over 500 company fleets in Gauteng said that only handwritten fines were being loaded on National Traffic Information Systems (Natis).
The firms said that the JMPD and Tshwane Metro Police Department (TPMD) had not loaded any camera fines for speed infringements on the Natis since 1 July 2021.
Worse, the authorities can’t process the outstanding fines once a suitable service provider is contracted. According to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, fine notices must be issued within 40 days of the infringement.
Failure to do so means the authorities no longer have the right to collect payments of these fines, costing municipalities millions.
TMPD spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said that his department is still looking into resolving the issue.
The CoJ’s public safety department spokesperson Karabo Seane told City Press that the matter is still under adjudication.
“It takes a long time for these processes to conclude, as there are many steps involved before a suitable service provider can be appointed,” Seane added.
The department’s chief of staff, Brutus Malada, said the advertisement for the tender was published in February 2022.
However, it is not the only tender relating to traffic infringements currently being advertised.
The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) issued a tender in August seeking contractors to take over its failed e-toll system and potentially implement several value-added services.
The value-added systems include the possible implementation of average speed over distance enforcement cameras.
Sanral said the e-toll gantries could already do limited average speed enforcement.
The agency added that it had collected average speed data since April 2020, recording just under 12.6 million infringements, adding that on a single day in July, it recorded 16,225 speeding violations.
According to the tender, bidders implementing this need to connect to Natis and other government departments.
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