Two arrested for brutal shooting of Megan Griesel
November 7, 2023Former Eskom technician allegedly scored lucrative tender
November 14, 2023Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison (DCSSL) is in the process of reversing all fraudulently acquired and issued license disks.
Moeti Mmusi, spokesperson for the provincial department said the losses were incurred between October 6 and 9 through corrupt and fraudulent activities.
“This comes after the Revenue Management Section of the Department uncovered information that between the 6th and 9th of October 2023 the Department has suffered a huge loss of over R35 million in KwaMhlanga and Siyabuswa licensing stations as a result of corrupt syndicates who fraudulently renewed licence disks and illegally written penalty fees.” He said.
The Revenue Management could not reconcile the licence disk issued with the revenue in the coffers of government.
“An investigation was done which revealed that the fraudulent activity happened with syndicates using login details of the officials from the two stations. “
The Department has now launched a programme to recover the loss. All fraudulent set aside and wrong cancelled penalties will also be reinstated for fleet owners.
It means the money that the Department lost in unduly issued license disks will be steadily recovered.
Furthermore, an admin mark will be placed on such license disks. This will force owners to come forward.
Once their disks have been cancelled, they will be forced to come forward and renew such disks again, and they will be compelled to pay all outstanding penalties, which are accumulating on an ongoing basis.
The Department, on the other hand, is awaiting RTMC to install biometric system for all officials in licensing. This means that no one will be able to log in with the details of another. They will be using their fingerprints to access the system once the system has been installed.
The Department will continue to work with all the stakeholders and law enforcers to root out fraud and corruption in the licensing environment.
The modus operandi is that some officials may have been paid in order to compromise their login details to syndicates. The investigation is ongoing to determine exactly what happened. Those who are found in the wrong will have to face the full consequences of their actions.
The Department further notes that since 2020, about 20 officials have been arrested and these officials’ cases are currently undergoing court processes relating to fraud and corruption. Three fleet company’s owners were also arrested this year in connection with malfeasance.
Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe warns motorists and truck owners owing license fees to refrain from colluding with syndicates and corrupt officials in order to evade paying fully due licence and/or outstanding fines and penalties.
The MEC also calls on members of the community to report corruption through the Anti-corruption hotline, which is 0800 701 701