The meeting was instead attended by Speaker Andries Mabena and Municipal Manager Mr Bheki Khenisa.

The decision to mount pressure on the establishment of a municipal court came after council scrapped more than R11 million in fines during a special council sitting held in chambers.

The municipal court has been on the cards for some time, with Municipal Manager Mr Khenisa as the driving force behind the concept.

Mayor Tolo’s revelation of the meeting came in response to DA councillor Gys Romijn’s criticism of the municipality’s non-existent collection system, which led to more than three years of fines being scrapped.

The bulk of the fines written off were also issued with contempt of court arrest warrants, which adds an additional R300 admittance of guilt penalty over and above the original fined amount. The fines ranged between R500 and R3 000.

Mayor Tolo addressed the need for a municipal court, saying that the higher courts were already swamped with serious and violent crimes, and that the burden of regulating traffic offences and by-laws can be handled more effectively by a municipal court.

Mayor Tolo agreed with Cllr Romijn that the only ones benefitting from the scrapping of fines were the offenders, adding that presently it was out of the municipality’s hands.

Cllr Romijn said that outstanding fines, in the meantime, should be billed to municipal accounts.

Mayor Tolo said that the delegation was advised to make use of existing infrastructure at the court buildings.

According to the mayor, the municipality must now look at appointing an inhouse prosecutor and other court officials, while the magistrates court would provide a courtroom and sitting magistrate to address municipal issues.

Mayor Tolo said that the municipality would look at the recommendations and revert back to the justice department once a plan forward had been devised.