VANDERBIJLPARK – The speeding camera headache in the Emfuleni Local Municipality has left the municipality fuming.
This comes after media reports claiming speed traffic equipment and data were repossessed by a service provider due to non-payment.
Following the reports, the embattled municipality issued a statement calling the reports misleading.
Makhosonke Sangweni, the municipal spokesperson, said in a statement, “For the record, it is not true that a service provider has removed the speed traffic and data equipment for non-payment; this is an outright misrepresentation of facts and peerless disinformation. The withdrawal of the equipment materialised because the contract of the previous service provider came to an end after three years. As a result, they had to remove their equipment as a standard departure procedure.”
Sangweni added that the municipality has formally appointed a new service provider to render the service.
“Thus far, the service provider has conducted interviews to source the new contract, installed computers, printers, software, and trained staff on the new system (Data capturing started on July 15). Around 4 524 new cases have been successfully captured,” he said.
Sangweni said 70 handheld electronic devices, for law enforcement, will be delivered on August 6 (training of officers will happen on the same day).
“Accordingly, the progress of the new service provider is as expected, and the municipality has no cause for concern. Enforcement for speed prosecutions is still taking place while traffic officers continue to write summonses for offences related to the violation of the National Road Traffic Act.”
Several political parties weighed in on the matter.
DA caucus leader Duncan Mthembu said, “We met with the manager of public safety in the municipality. Upon our meeting, we realised that the contract we had with the previous service provider had expired. What puzzles us is how it took the municipality three months to appoint a new service provider. We will write to the council to find out why it took the municipality so long to appoint a service provider,” he said.
