Fraudulent traffic summons will cost SA millions

By Tarryn Le Chat
05 January 2007

Fraudulent traffic summonses will cost South Africa millions of rands unless municipalities enforce a standard training and accreditation policy for servers, says an industry expert.

The City of Cape Town had to cancel more than 68 000 fines, valued at R18 million, last year because traffic offenders were not summonsed within the required 18-month period.

There is currently only one training company, recognised as a registered service provider by the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Association (Sasseta) and the SA Qualification Authority, in the country.

Kevin Maxwell, metro police director of civilian affairs, said that because the City of Cape Town has a service level agreement with Labat Traffic Solutions to carry out summonses, the training and accreditation of process servers was Labat responsibility.

In 2005, the city approved the appointment of additional peace officers, paid for by Labat, to execute warrants of arrest violations and issue summonses.