105 corrupt licencing officials to be dealt in order move forward with delivery
13 February 2017
Licencing corruption
The City of Tshwane, in collaboration with the Gauteng Department for Roads and Transport, has discovered a modus operandi called “dumping” which is conducted by some Tshwane licencing officials who illegally hide vehicle licence penalties and arrears.
In real terms, this means that the City of Tshwane is unable to recover some of the monies owed to it from a multitude of traffic violations. This means that the City is unable to recoup some of the money owed to it, which further compounds its ability to generate the revenue it needs to provide services to law-abiding citizens who are entitled to services.
This comes on the heels of the City’s announcement last week about just how precarious its financial situation is.
In view of this, the Executive Mayor, Councillor Solly Msimanga, has given the instruction that all City of Tshwane officials implicated in this collusion be suspended and dealt with swiftly so that we may start recovering some of these monies, which will go a long way in generating the much-needed revenue we need. In doing so, we will also swiftly root out this corruption from our traffic sector.
This, coupled with the roll-out of parking meters, will ensure that we leverage the tools and instruments available to us in the traffic sector to generate revenue, enforce by-laws and create a more efficient and sustainable traffic sector in this city.
With respect to the practice called “dumping”, we are informed that it works in one of the following two ways:
Scenario One:
Consider legal Personas A, B and C. Persona A is the current owner and C = A (identical persona). The vehicle will transactionally move to Persona B (registration only, with the required backdating). The victim can be a person, business or estate. The vehicle will shortly thereafter transactionally move back to Persona A (because C = A). Therefore, penalties and arrears are dumped onto Persona B because of backdating, and B remains “liable for licencing”.
Scenario Two:
Consider Personas A, B and C. Persona A is the current owner, and A and C are distinct different legal personas. The vehicle will transactionally move to Persona B (registration only, with the required backdating). The victim can be a person, business or estate. The vehicle will shortly thereafter move transactionally to Persona C Therefore, penalties and arrears are dumped onto Persona B.
The transaction dynamics are typically from A to B (registration only in order to create liable for licencing and arrears) back to C (or C = A).
These fraudulent transactions, if not detected, make such debt irrecoverable.
As I speak, 12 officials are undergoing disciplinary hearings on these charges. However, the identified number of culprits is just over 100. This number may grow as we probe further into this practice that went on largely unchecked under the previous ANC administration.
Generally, there are a wide range of fraudulent and corrupt practices in licencing services that include the following:
-The Registering Authority assisting in vehicle crime (stolen vehicles, and vehicle hijacking and cloning)
- Corrupt learner and driving licence testing (which has been known for many years as a national problem)
Licencing fraud and corruption become very, very technical since most of it is system-based (e-NaTIS). I will therefore be appointing a dedicated prosecutor and presiding officer to look into these cases.
During our election campaign, we said that corruption will not be tolerated, and we remain resolute in this promise. We will root out fraud and corruption in all their manifestations.
The City is cooperating with the Gauteng Department for Roads and Transport in its ongoing investigation to bring perpetrators to book and possibly recover the monies misappropriated and/or stolen.
Any person who suspects fraud and corruption must report it to our hotline at 080 874 9263. The hotline number translates to 080-TSHWANE to make it easy for residents to remember.
Tshwane administration making progress on water infrastructure:
The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Infrastructure, Darryl Moss, handed over a project site in Ga-Rankuwa on 8 February 2017, marking the start of the replacement of the dilapidated water reticulation network.
The Ga-Rankuwa water network is about 26 years old and rapidly collapsing due to the age of the now-defective asbestos pipes.
At a contract value of R3 390 029,12, the project will replace at least 1 309 metres of pipeline. The replacement includes all valves, communication pipes, a 100 mm diameter AC pipe with a 160 mm UPVC pipe, and water meters, if required. All paving, concrete and road surfaces damaged during construction will also be repaired. The project is expected to last four months and will employ 11 local labourers.
Moss said: “A total of R16 million has been made available in the 2016/2017 financial year for the replacement of worn-out water networks and further R1 million ring-fenced for lengthening of water pipelines. We are sitting with frequent water interruptions because a meagre 4% was allocated for preventative maintenance of water infrastructure by the former administration. For a metro this size, it is almost criminal because that has a real and meaningful impact on the City’s ability to deal speedily with water interruptions.”
Clubview and Hennopspark
The City will also hand over the Clubview and Hennopspark site in Region 4 to a contractor on 16 February 2017 to start with replacement of the water reticulation network. This is desperately needed due to the dolomitic geology and the possibility of sinkholes forming when water pipes leak in the area.
The water reticulation network pipes in Clubview and Hennopspark are old 75 mm asbestos cement pipes that were installed in the eighties. The purpose of this project is to replace the most critical sections of the existing water reticulation network, which has deteriorated to such an extent that it has become unserviceable.
The project scope includes the installation of approximately 3 500 m of HDPE water pipes and the replacement of all valves, communication pipes and water meters, if required. All paving, concrete and road surfaces damaged during construction will also be repaired.
Soshanguve Blocks AA and F
The water reticulation network in Soshanguve Blocks AA and F is approximately 30 years old and collapsing fast due to the age of the asbestos pipes.
The project to replace 4 500 metres of pipeline started in June 2016 and is progressing well. The contractor has replaced the most critical sections of the existing water reticulation network, which has deteriorated to such an extent that it has become unserviceable.
Leaks are frequent, and maintenance on this network is not feasible anymore. This situation has resulted in retaliation from the community, who refuses any other assistance such as JoJo tanks and insists that the water network be permanently replaced. The City is happy to have realised this wish on behalf of the Soshanguve community.
The City of Tshwane is committed to ensuring that safe, clean and affordable water is accessible to all and that adequate planning is exercised in order to avoid service interruptions.
Rejuvenation of the inner city:
A clean and well-functioning inner city goes a long way to restoring confidence in its ability to attract investment, both domestically and internationally. As such, the City has installed an inner-city depot which will occupy itself with ensuring that we rejuvenate and revitalise the inner city, which in recent times has become a victim to littering and a general state of uncleanliness due to a multitude of reasons.
Just this past weekend, there have been visible efforts to restore the city’s cleanliness, and this will go some way to enhance its image and instil confidence in Tshwane as a city that is clean, safe, and efficient and open for business.
This inner-city depot is not limited to restoring the city’s cleanliness but will also ensure that the inner city is safe for the people who commute and already do business in Tshwane.
Councillor Msimanga said: “We want to attract investment. We want this city to be a place where people can play, live and work. You cannot do that if one building is up to standard but the next building looks like a slum. We are going to have to clean that. [How can we have] 20 people sharing a two-bedroom flat? We are going to check and correct that.
“We are also going to engage with property owners. We give them a timeframe to fix and upgrade their buildings. Failure to do that, the City will do it and they will get the bill. It doesn’t help to have people staying in [plush suburbs] renting out these properties but they don’t even care what is happening.
“We will also identify buildings owned by people who are no longer in the country, who receive rent at the end of each month, but they don’t care whether there is maintenance or no maintenance of their buildings.”
Bringing all these elements together – including safety and infrastructure, and better leveraging of our traffic sector – will go a long way to furthering the strides we have already made in bringing about the change our residents so desperately need.
While we do understand and appreciate the frustrations of some of our residents, we are grateful for their patience and want to assure them that this change is coming to all parts of Tshwane and that no people will be forgotten. It will just take some time to turn back the clock and correct the poor management of 20 years of ANC administration in this city.
Issued by Samkelo Mgobozi, Spokesperson to the Executive Mayor of Tshwane, 13 February 2017
