KwaMhlanga – Fraudulently issued vehicle licence disks have resulted in Mpumalanga losing R35m from two centres.
The province’s Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison, the custodian of vehicle licensing and testing centres, said the massive loss was incurred in just three days.
The department’s revenue management personnel recently found out that between the 6 and 9 October 2023, licence discs were fraudulently issued at Thembisile Hani Local Municipality in KwaMhlanga and the neighbouring Dr. JS Moroka Local Municipality in Siyabuswa.
Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison spokesperson Moeti Mmusi on Tuesday said: “The department has suffered a huge loss of more than R35m in KwaMhlanga and Siyabuswa licensing stations as a result of corruption syndicates who fraudulently renewed licence disks and illegally wrote off penalties.”
Mmusi added: “The department is in the process of reversing all the fraudulently acquired and issued licence disks.
“All fraudulently set aside and cancelled penalties will be reinstated for fleet owners.
“They will be compelled to come forward and pay all the outstanding penalties which are accumulating on an ongoing basis.”
He said new security measures are being introduced in a bid to curb such fraudulent activities.
“The department is awaiting for the Road Traffic Management Corporation to install biometrics for all officials in licensing,” Mmusi said.
“This means that no one will be able to log in with the details of others.
“They will be using their fingerprints to access the system.”
