eNatis court victory to save department R30m monthly

Midrand – The transport department will save R30m per month, following the Constitutional Court’s decision to have a service provider hand over the electronic National Traffic Information and Vehicle Management System (eNatis) to the Road Traffic Management Corporation.

This is according to new Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi, who addressed media at the recently vacated Tasima offices in Midrand on Thursday.

He discussed the details of the handover of the system, which manages the registration, licensing and deregistration of vehicles, from consortium Tasima.

This comes after a 10-year court battle. Maswanganyi explained: “We exhausted legal channels by going to the Constitutional Court, which ruled in favour of government.”

READ: Court orders department to pay up in eNaTIS case

Two judgments by the Constitutional Court and the North Gauteng High Court had ordered Tasima to complete the handover of the system within 30 days. However, Tasima refused to do so and decided to challenge the period determined through an appeal at the court, heard on Wednesday.

The appeal was dismissed and Tasima subsequently had to vacate the premises.

Of the relationship between Tasima and the Department of Transport going forward, Maswanganyi said: “We do not intend to fight Tasima forever. We want to thank them for putting the foundation. They should thank government for giving them the opportunity to build this infrastructure.”

He added that his department would be working with Tasima to finalise the handover. “We do not want to treat them as our enemies and adversaries… We still need to account to the South African public, the taxpayers, of money spent since the beginning of the eNatis system, up to when we have taken over.”

Maswanganyi said the department would be audited by the auditor general, and Tasima will have to assist it with information that may be needed.

He assured the public that the handover would not disrupt the system.

Department of Transport director general Mathabatha Mokonyama explained that on average R44m was paid per month, and actual costs going forward are estimated to come to R14m.