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No penalties for Tasima
BY KIMBERLY
GUEST , ITWEB SENIOR JOURNALIST
[ Johannesburg,
12 June 2007 ] -
The consortium behind the widely-criticised implementation of the
electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) will not be
subjected to penalties, says transport minister Jeff Radebe.
The minister was responding to questions posed by the Democratic Alliance
(DA) in Parliament last month.
The Masiye Phambili consortium was awarded the five-year contract to
implement eNatis in 2002. The consortium – made up of arivia.kom, Webcom
Consulting
and Thuthukani Information Technology Services – subsequently formed
Tasima, a privately-owned company. The contract expired at the end of May,
but was extended for a period of no longer than 12 months.
Since April, the eNatis implementation has appeared in daily newspapers
and drawn fire from political parties, the public sector and outraged
citizens.
However, the transport department says the critical milestone dates set
out in the original contract were influenced by a number of factors and as
a result it has chosen not to impose penalties.
Several
delays
The department notes that an unsuccessful application to the High Court to
have the awarding of the contract overturned delayed the project for six
months.
Additionally, as the implementation got under way, the milestone dates had
to be revised to make way for extra functionalities to be incorporated in
the software
development baseline, increased number of sites, additional
workstations and printers, and “unavoidable delays and requirements by
the national steering committee to prepare the business environment for
the changeover to eNatis”.
“All these factors were considered by the national steering committee
and the schedule of critical milestones was adjusted from time to time to
reflect the realities as outlined. The changeover to the new eNatis system
was concluded within the amended dates. Therefore, in respect of the
changeover date, no penalties were applicable,” it says.
DA concerned
DA transport spokesman Stuart Farrow says he is concerned at the
department's response.
“There seems to be a veil of protection thrown around this contract and
its contractor,
for whatever reason. It is understandable that unforeseen circumstances
may arise causing slight delays in the contract; but, in this regard, it
seems that many of these factors could have been foreseen and taken into
account from the beginning. Why did the department accept such significant
delays in a more than R400 million contract without so much as a
discount on the original cost?” he asks.
Unsatisfied with the response from the Department of Transport, Farrow
says he is repeating his call that Radebe appear before Parliament's
Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
However, transport spokesperson Collen Msibi says this is unnecessary as
the system is operating satisfactorily and the department is in
discussions with the auditor general to facilitate the development of its
final report.
“We would like to reiterate that the system is working and its problems
have been resolved. We see no reason why Tasima should be penalised if
this is the case,” he says.
TRAFFIC LAW ENFORCEMENT TO BE STEPPED UP
MEDIA RELEASE
NO. 241/2005
31 AUGUST 2005
TRAFFIC LAW ENFORCEMENT TO BE STEPPED UP
Cape Town motorists will soon see more road blocks and stepped up law enforcement in a campaign to promote road safety, recover outstanding traffic fines and execute warrants of arrest.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has officially informed the City of his ruling that all offences committed and warrants of arrest authorised after 1 July 2003 are valid. This means offenders are liable to pay fines and finalise the warrants through the existing processes.
Offences recorded on the City Of Cape Town’s traffic contravention system before 1 July 2003 will be withdrawn in terms of the directive of the DPP.
“As a caring City, we appeal to offenders with outstanding warrants to settle them immediately as we do not want them to face the unpleasantness of an arrest at a roadblock,” said Rushj Lehutso, Chief Operations Officer for the City of Cape Town.
“Our aim is to make our roads safer and we want to inform offenders that they need to respect traffic laws and the safety of other road users, “said Lehutso.
With the City’s integrated traffic contravention management system, it is now possible to have City-wide ticketing, law enforcement, enquiries and payments of fines and warrants. The system covers the greater City of Cape Town which extends from Gordons Bay and Cape Point in the south, all the way up to Atlantis on the west coast and inland to the other side of Brackenfell.
The system is becoming more sophisticated. Backlogs have been eliminated as a result of the decision made by the DPP. The City is now able to concentrate its efforts on all outstanding cases in order to improve law enforcement.
To this end, a series of targeted road blocks, utilising the licence plate recognition system (LPR) will be conducted to identify offenders with outstanding fines and warrants of arrest over the next few weeks across the City area. Someone who committed an offence in the Helderberg area, could be stopped at a roadblock in Sea Point.
Offenders will also be called in a telephone campaign to inform them of outstanding warrants of arrest and to advise them on how to settle the matter at the relevant court. If they are stopped at a road block before paying, however, they could face arrest. They should therefore settle all outstanding warrants as soon as possible and not wait to be called.
A warrant of arrest is issued when someone who has ignored a traffic fine and a notice to appear in court fails to do so. The warrant is issued by the court and cannot be withdrawn by the City of Cape Town or traffic officers at a road block.
END
ISSUED BY:
DIRECTORATE: COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
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