Ali Mphaki
A FORMAL complaint of abuse, non-compliance with the law and defeating the ends of justice has been laid against the Joburg metro police department with the Public Protector.
Brought by Justice Project South Africa (JPSA), a non-profit organisation aiming to root out power abuse and corruption in law enforcement, the complaint also includes the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), who jointly with the JMPD are accused of “wilfully and purposely” choosing to violate section 30(1) of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto), which requires that all documents under the act that are not served in person be delivered via registered mail.
The complaint comes amid concerns that the JMPD’s actions are designed to discredit Aarto and ensure that it is not rolled out nationwide.
JPSA national chairman Howard Dembovsky confirmed that their complaint was hand delivered to the Public Protector on Friday and “was discussed in depth with that office”.
He said the JMPD has violated this requirement of the act since June 1, 2010 and continue to violate the act by sending infringement notices via surface mail. Dembovsky also took a swipe at the RTIA, which he said has “completely and undeniably” failed in fulfilling its mandate to ensure that the Aarto Act is rolled out fairly and equitably.
He said the RTIA has, among other things, allowed the JMPD to violate the act and regulations, and has abandoned its responsibility to have the JMPD comply with the act, and has therefore sanctioned their unlawful behaviour. Other allegations against the RTIA are that:
l It has failed in ensuring that the Aarto Act is applied equitably in the only two jurisdictions which it has been proclaimed in, by allowing the JMPD and the Tshwane metro police department to apply the same legislation in two completely different manners
l It has allowed JMPD director Gerrie Gerneke to overtly level threats at members of the public in the media, which constitutes a criminal action of intimidation.
Dembovsky said these complaints involve extreme prejudice to the public, abuse of power, abandonment of statutory responsibility and outright criminality on the part of the authorities involved.
He said if the JMPD, RTMC and RTIA do not comply with the laws they expect others to comply with, Aarto will fail and people will continue to be slaughtered on the roads. “These agencies will continue to rake in billions of rand covered in the blood of victims of road carnage because they feel that it is their right to profit from lawlessness,” he said.
Commenting on a story published in The Star last Wednesday reporting that the JMPD stands to lose an estimated R1 billion in loss of revenue as a result of sending invalid infringement notices, Dembovsky said the JMPD is not in for a loss of any kind as the estimated R1bn it will have to refund was never its money in the first place.