RAF, RTIA & RTMC 2021/22 Annual Performance Plans; with Deputy Minister

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Transport

07 May 2021
Chairperson: Mr M Zwane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Annual Performance Plans

The Committee met virtually to receive the Strategic Plans and 2021/22 Annual Performance Plans presentations from the Road Accident Fund (RAF); Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). The Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, gave the political overview highlighting the key issues in the performance of the three entities.

The Road Accident Fund obtained a clean audit outcome from the Auditor-General; this is an improvement from the three consecutive years of unqualified audit outcome. The board has reviewed and approved the new macro-organisational structure, which is aligned to the new strategy. The supply chain systems and processes were also reviewed and approved. The Fund has further intensified the fight against fraud and corruption. As a result, a lot of the Fund’s officials have been suspended or dismissed for various reasons of fraud and corruption and gross negligence in processing claims. Its Annual Performance Plan for 2021/2022 will focus on building on the achievements of the annual performance plan for 2020/2021 and improving on areas where the Fund fell short of achieving its annual strategic outcomes. The key strategic outcomes will include: the implementation of the new operating model, settlement of claims within 120 days, increasing the settlement rate of all claims, integrating the claims management systems, reduction of legal costs, reduction of medical costs, financial facility to the Fund, as well as the development and implementation of the assets and liability strategy. The Deputy Minister reckoned that the Members should commend the board and the executive management of the Fund, who despite the challenges they faced on taking office, managed to make several achievements as already highlighted.

Members pointed out the inconsistency at the Fund, where in one month the claimants are paid and the next month nothing is paid. What is the cause of that inconsistency? They requested that mechanisms be put in place to facilitate communication with claimants on the work of the Fund. Lack of communications has led to high numbers of enquiries. They did, however, acknowledged the evident improvement of the entity.

On behalf of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, the Deputy Minister said that part of the medium-term targets of the National Road Safety Strategy is to ensure the existence of an intervention that holds motorists accountable through the point demerit system as well as the subsequent suspension and cancellation of the licences belonging to habitual road offenders. The development of the 2021/2022 performance plan was preceded by an internal and external stakeholder consultation. The plan consists of 32 outcome indicator targets, with emphasis on the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act operation and seven on Government means supply chain and operations of the entity. An additional outcome indicator relates to the integration of law enforcement of the road entities, which pertains to the rationalisation of the Road Traffic Management Corporation and the Agency’s law enforcement functions. The Minister is working hard to ensure that the integration happens as speedily to make sure that the implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act is done in a conducive environment. A total of R215 million was allocated to fund the rollout of the Act. The Agency has to change the current annual performance plan and resubmit to the Department. It must align with the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) budget that the Minister of Finance pitched to R155 million and must make smart targets.

Members welcomed the presentation, although they also expressed concern about all the acting incumbents and suspensions. They then asked why there is a target of 75% reduction in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and pointed that it should be a target that should be at 100%. What is the budget for the board meetings? How much has been spent? Are the board members paid per meeting or is it a standard payment? They said he also wanted to know the expenses incurred due to problems with the South African Post Offices mailing, the percentage of the mail not delivered, and how it has been handled in terms of accounting.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation had been able to make the Department proud in making sure that they lived up to the Member's expectations, particularly with the targets of 80% achievement in their annual performance plan in the financial year of 2019/2020. It has not been an easy walk for them to be able to reach where they are because by 2013, they were only able to achieve 27% of their expected outcomes. The entity has been operating in an increasingly challenging economic and physical environment. However, despite the challenges, the organisation has increased its revenue collection by 18% in the past five years. It has aggressively pursued alternative revenue streams and in this coming year, the Ministry believes that it will be self-sustainable because even the policies and the Acts are demanding that from the entity. For the 2021 financial year, the entity has set clear targets that are very measurable. This will ensure that the Corporation remains a purpose-driven organisation that is managed efficiently and with high levels of credibility.

Members were interested in the effort – the number of interventions within the quarterly targets. What has been the input in terms of cost? How many were reduced and how many were scrapped? They also asked for the entity’s audit opinion, as it was not reflecting on the presentation documents. On fraud and corruption, why did the Fund fail and what system or mechanism does it have now to deal with the fraud and corruption?

Meeting report

The Chairperson opened the virtual meeting, welcoming the Members, the Deputy Minister and all the guest delegates from the Road Accident Fund (RAF), Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

Apologies were made on behalf of absent Members and the Minister of Transport, who said he was affected by load shedding in his area. The Committee Secretary requested that Members and guests with hidden identities on the Zoom platform be revealed for record keeping purposes.

Changes in the agenda of the day will be presentations in this sequence: Road Accident Fund (RAF), Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and then Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

Road Accident Fund (RAF) 2021/22 APP

Deputy Minister’s Overview

The Deputy Minister (DM), Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, said that she will leave the presentation to the Chairperson of the board and the executive of RAF, led by Mr Collins Letsoalo.

RAF is one of the strategic entities that the Department relies on. As such, the DM did not feel she would be better positioned to present than the RAF Board Chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She indicated that the National Development Plan (NDP) demands of the Department to make sure that there is social protection, quality life healthcare. But, looking at the RAF, the adverse impact that the accidents and conditions the entity finds itself in impacts negatively on the socio-economic conditions of the victims and actual economic conditions of the country.

The transformation of the RAF, as envisaged in the 2020/2025 Strategic Plan, is the most important step that the Fund has taken in making sure that servicing the clients is a key element. But also, it has got to be due to the objectives of the NDP. The RAF has, over the years, experienced serious challenges, including: a highly tedious and ineffective operating model, an unsustainable funding model where the benefits offered are more costly than the funding that is available for the scheme through the fuel levy, and a lack of nexus between the revenue and the benefit offered. Other challenges that are to be noted when dealing with the strategic plan and the annual performance plan are an inadequate legislative framework and an extraordinary high accident rate seen in the country.  As a consequence, the fund has accumulated an actuarial liability of R330 billion as of 31 March 2020, and a requested but not yet paid, fund of over R14 billion as of 31 March. Claimants had to wait for an average of 1 475 days for their claims to be settled. The funding model also experienced legislative and serious governance challenges. It operated with an interim board for quite some time and with an acting CEO for a long period. The Minister has since appointed a permanent board led by Ms Thembi Msibi to implement the turnaround strategy of the RAF. The board has subsequently appointed a permanent CEO, Mr Collins Letsoalo. The Minister gave the board the following key priorities that there must be:

- A reduction of the legal cost

- Revision of the business structure

- Visible structure and business processes

- An integrated claim management system should be implemented, improving supply chain management processes

- Rehabilitation of the network in the RAF

Good progress has been registered in the implementation of the Strategic Plan. This is despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 and a protracted legal battle against the new strategic path by the Fund’s panel of attorneys. Among the notable key achievement that the RAF has seen is the finalisation and approval of the new operating model. The focus of this new operating model is on optimising claims administration by improving investigations and settlement of claims. This will result in expediting the settlement of claims and avoid unnecessary litigation. The RAF medical tariffs have been developed and published for comments. This will go a long way in reducing the high medical costs.

The draft Road Accident Fund amendment proposal of the Act was approved by the board and submitted to the Department for processing. This will also assist in optimising the current legislative framework. The Deputy Minister stated that the Road Accident Fund brought an application seeking an order in terms of rule 45A to suspend, for a period of 180 days, the execution of the writs of execution issues against the fund pursuant to the court order. On 9 April 2021, the court granted the order in favour of the Fund. This will also assist in improving the Fund’s liquidity position and will ensure that it implements a fair and equitable payment strategy.

The Road Accident Fund obtained a clean audit outcome from the Auditor-General; this is an improvement from the three consecutive years of unqualified audit outcome. The board has reviewed and approved the new macro-organisational structure, which is aligned to the new strategy. The supply chain systems and processes were also reviewed and approved. The RAF has further intensified the fight against fraud and corruption. As a result, a lot of RAF officials have been suspended or dismissed for various reasons of fraud and corruption and gross negligence in processing claims. There are several road accident criminal matters under investigation by the Hawks. The Fund has also reported many legal firms to the Law Practicing Council for various acts of unethical conduct.

The Annual Performance Plan (APP) of 2021/2022 will focus on building on the achievements of the APP of 2020/2021 and improving on areas where the Fund fell short of achieving its annual strategic outcomes. The key strategic outcomes will include: the implementation of the new operating model, settlement of claims within 120 days, increasing the settlement rate of all claims, integrating the claims management systems, reduction of legal costs, reduction of medical costs, financial facility to the Fund, as well as the development and implementation of the assets and liability strategy. The DM suggested that the Members commend the board and the executive management of RAF, who despite the challenges they faced on taking office, managed to make several achievements as already highlighted. She highly commended the RAF Board on the court battles they endured and won in favour of the RAF.

She thanked the Chairperson and handed over to the RAF CEO to proceed with the presentation.

Briefing by the RAF on its 2021/22 APP

The presentation was made by the RAF CEO, Mr Collins Letsoalo, who began by apologising for not acknowledging the DM earlier on in the meeting. In his opening statement, he pointed out that the story of RAF is that of pain, difficulties, transformation and change to be claimant-centric. He alerted the Committee to the revisions made to the presentation (see the document as attached).

Key issues

- Making RAF claimant centric.

- Focusing on the sustainability of the Fund, going forward.

- Focusing on Section 17(4) of the RAF Act and emphasis on Section 21(2) of the RAF Act.

- Values of RAF have also changed to that of integrity, accountability, respect and excellence.

- A sustainable RAF means modernising the system, especially in this time of a pandemic.

- Improving on governance

- Reducing fraud and corruption. RAF is the most defrauded entity in the country.

- Payment to be done in an annuity to avoid making people instant millionaires and irresponsible spending, which is not sustainable henceforth.

- Recovery of funds lost due to duplicate claims.

- Asset and liability matching.

He said that the DM had already spoken about the other key issues. The CEO also indicated that as an entity, he believed the RAF is going forward and there is no turning back. 

[see presentation attached for further details]

Discussion

Mr I Seitlholo (DA) asked question on the opening remarks of the CEO on RAF being a social benefit scheme, which essentially protects the wrongdoer. Are there timelines in respect of what would be done on that particular matter and what are some of the ideas that the CEO has around the matter?

The second question emanated from the questions that are often asked by members of the public regarding the accidents that are caused by brick-throwing, resulting in windscreen breaking and then leading to accidents. What needs to be done by such victims?

The third question asked was surrounding accidents caused by hazardous roads: what happens to victims of such accidents, considering that some of our roads are in a bad state? For instance, in Mahikeng people would tell you that if you drive straight you are drunk because the roads are meandering due to their bad state. Can such individuals make claims at the RAF?  

Mr L Mangcu (ANC) thanked Mr Seitlholo for asking on behalf of the members of the community. He welcomed the new board members and the board chairperson in particular, stating that he knew her personally. He commended the CEO for a straight-to-the-point presentation, which he called a cutting-off-the-fat presentation.

He also expressed concerns over the set targets, adding that he was unsure if the CEO was being cautious about them or not. He also wondered what the entity’s baseline was. He reckoned that it is a low percentage target and asked how the entity determined it. He said 50% validation and verification within 60 days was fairly ambitious, given where RAF is right now. He would truly appreciate clarification on all the concerns he raised.

On the appointment of the new board, what was the budget and how much was spent? In this financial year, what is the budget? In closing, he wished the board the best and expressed his confidence in its members.

Mr K Sithole (IFP) felt that there was progress because the problem of RAF had been pending for too long. He asked if there was a system or mechanism for getting a qualified audit. How did RAF manage to get a qualified audit? He did not understand the 30-day compliance because there was a lot of unpaid money, which was claimed by the victims. How would RAF deal with unpaid claims? Fraud and corruption are cancer that is killing the entity. How many thugs have been arrested, and how many cases are with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU)?

Mr L McDonald (ANC) acknowledged the DM and commended the CEO for the presentation. He said it was encouraging that the CEO was fishing out the corruption out of the RAF. About the lawyers that were falsely paid, how much has been recovered and how many cases actually come to court? For every Rand that the RAF collects, what is the percentage of the money that gets to the beneficiaries?

The Chairperson reiterated what the Members said about the improvements seen in the presentation and said it was encouraging. One thing that is lacking from the RAF is simple communication with the claimants on the progress of their claims.  He reminded the CEO about programmes where the radio would communicate with claimants, giving them the status of their claims. Lack of communications has led to high numbers of enquiries. The Chairperson revealed that he had personally received an email from an EFF Member, which came from a claimant pestering about an RAF claim that has not yet been processed. He also raised the issue of inconsistency at the RAF where in one month the claimants are paid and the next month nothing is paid. What is the cause of that inconsistency? He said that if communication is prioritised, the government would be viewed as doing well at that level. He requested that mechanisms be put in place to facilitate communication with claimants on the work of RAF. Lastly, he acknowledged the evident improvement of the RAF.

Responses

The Deputy Minister, in her response, expressed that it has not been easy at the RAF. The team appointed by the Minister, particularly the board, which subsequently appointed the CEO, has assisted in taking the government out of the woods. She said she forgot to recognise the team from the Department of Transport, led by Mr Hlabisa, in the virtual platform. She handed over to the Chairperson of the board and the CEO to respond to the questions.

Mr Collins Letsoalo, RAF CEO, said that he would respond to the questions asked as much as possible, and where he could not, the RAF will respond in writing should there be a need for further clarification.

He explained that indemnifying the wrongdoer is something that is based on history, and since the RAF is a 1942 organisation, it needs changes. Every 20 years there has been a commission of inquiry as to why RAF is not sustainable. The only way of making RAF work is making it what it is – a social benefit scheme. It should have a certain level of benefits but should not be faultless, because faultlessness will always lead to the same moral hazard.

In dealing with problems, people need to be held accountable for their wrongdoing. Negligence or unlawful actions on the road must result in the RAF covering the claimant without letting go of the wrongdoer. This is the view of the RAF and there have been internal discussions and discussions with the Minister in a workshop, over the past two weeks, that there must be changes to the scheme. As such, it is something that the RAF is collaborating with the Department on, led by the Department.

On windscreen damages, the CEO said this is going to be difficult because the scheme is based on what is called a delictual claim. This means that it must be a wrong committed by a motor vehicle driver because it indemnifies the wrongdoer, who is the motor vehicle driver. He explained that if someone throws a stone from a bridge, it would be difficult because the cause of that accident is not naturally an event that is related to the motor vehicle.

Responding on hazardous roads, he admitted that it is evident that the number of single-car accidents is increasing because some plunge into potholes, resulting in accidents. The RAF currently covers such individuals. All these matters must be considered with the assistance of law enforcement.

On the sustainability of the RAF, going forward, he mentioned that the reduction in road crashes, tight law enforcement, and behavioural change on the roads is very important. The RAF is working together with the other entities that are dealing with issues around that, such as the RTMC and the RTIA.

On the concerns raised by Mr Mangcu, regarding targets, he explained that the baseline for current claims that are set within 120 days is zero. This is because all of the claims that are settled at the RAF are settled after 120 days. The 120-day period is given because 80% of claims in the RAF system are actually not settled because they do not have the required documents that are needed to settle them. It took the RAF five years to settle that. He said that in 2021 the entity is putting 5% because of the implications of Covid-19, but the other issue was that the RAF now has to clean up all that. There is an introduction of minimum requirements for information, and the RAF also has to go and seek the capacity to be able to come and to do this work quickly. Actuaries and medical practitioners are hired on the side of the RAF to be able to fast-track the process. Growth will be evident in the next years. In the next three years, there should be 100% of settlements within 120 days. That is why the 5% was set for that. The three-year average is also calculated on the reduction of the five years. So it could not have been increased more than the 10% because it is also driven by that existing 5%; the two are linked. RAF has its stretch targets internally where it would be thought this is 5 % but maybe the structure is 10% on the inside; the issue is just to make it something that is achievable and within its control. He is convinced that 5% is doable, under the circumstances. There is also a manual system. As such, all these things are done manually and an integrated management system will kick in the last quarter of this year; so it is going to be those things that RAF looked at as a dynamic.

On the questions about the budget, the CEO said that he needed clarity as to which budget Mr Mangcu was referring to. Is it the budget of the Road Accident Fund or the budget of the board?  Because the budget of the RAF is about R43 billion and the RAF gets about R3.6 billion each month, making it about R43 billion annually. It also depends on what the RAF collects from the fuel levy. 

Mr Mangcu clarified that he is referring to the board budget, not the entity budget.

Mr Letsoalo promised to get back to that issue but explained that the RAF does not pay board members per meeting, but pays a fixed amount. It is not driven by meetings at all. If it were, it would be at a very high figure because last year the board had 21 board meetings. He promised to bring the actual budget to the Committee.

In response to the question around the audit, he said the RAF received a clean audit opinion. The RAF does not have any findings that are on top of that. So, it is unqualified with no findings, and the goal is to keep it that way going forward.

He explained that the ‘30-day period’ is the issue around paying invoices, not the claims, to the suppliers. The RAF has a liquidity cash position, meaning it is always out of cash. As a result, there is a situation where certain people are paid now and not paid the next month. The RAF has sectors within which people get paid. He explained that by the time the RAF tried to pay these individuals, the lawyers would have attached the bank accounts and taken out some money. So even if RAF wanted to pay these people, there is not enough money to pay them. It was also creating a problem for the RAF salaries because even if people got paid on the 25th when the money arrived on the 21st, the sheriff is there and takes all the money. That is why RAF asked for section 45A, so that the sheriff must not attach the RAF’s assets to be able to maintain consistency in service delivery and be able to manage its cash.

The CEO said that corruption is being rooted out, with over 50 employees suspended, more than 10 dismissed and a further 80 identified. On the issue of payments, he explained that some of their employees had become extortionists. As a result, it was not clear how much was outstanding, and there were situations where people would just hold onto payments and not pay. Even after instructing them to load these matters, some of them refused to do so simply because they were probably getting something in return for just not loading the matters. Thus, the administrators are ensuring that there is consequence management in the process of cleaning out corruption.

On the issue of lawyers, the RAF has reported 102 law firms to the Legal Practice Council (LPC); a further 50 or 60 will be reported. These are lawyers who made claims where certain individuals have passed on. The RAF wants to keep the LPC very busy on these issues. It has been discovered that in other instances the money paid to these lawyers never reaches the claimants. As a result, the RAF has introduced a system where it requests for the agreement between the lawyers and the claimants to ensure that they take 25% and not more. There are plans in progress to introduce a system that will show the RAF that they have paid back the money once the money has been delivered – some sort of remittent advice.  There will also be an introduction of a system that allows people to check for themselves whether the money has been paid out or not and how long the system is going to take.  That is what is called a customer relationship management system that is going to be linked to the integrated claims management system. Concerning the recovery of false payments made to lawyers, the RAF has discovered about R600 million when it started collecting the money. When some payments were made after the RAF went to the LPC on 5 March, it was left with R340 million. Since then people have been paying back the money. On Friday, the RAF launched an application to stop the 63 law firms that still owe the entity money, and about 158-180 people have been paying throughout. As RAF collects, it is picking up some duplicate payments from the other years because this is the first two years that it has looked at and going back to see what other monies people got from the RAF that they are not entitled to. That money has to be paid back.

On what the claimant gets, RAF calculated it to be at about 45 cents; 40 cents goes to administrative fees and of the 40 cents that goes to the claimant and then they pay about 15 cents of that to the lawyer. So, on average, the RAF is sitting at about 45 cents, which is unacceptable as this money belongs to the claimants, not lawyers, medical practitioners or the actuaries. Hence, the RAF needs to reduce this cost from 55 cents to about 10-15 cents, including everybody so that this issue should be about claims and not enriching individuals, be it lawyers or the claimants themselves. The RAF proposed that claimants get paid an annuity to reduce creating instant millionaires who in two years will go to SASSA (South African Social Security Agency) and other social benefit schemes to try and get assistance when they have blown the money.

In response to the Chairperson’s issue around communication, he said the board has been very hard on RAF about this. It is a work in progress and the board is considering reintroducing some of these radio programmes. The target is to make this system so easy to claim from that any person walking anywhere can get in and claim. This could happen when the litigation management approach is removed and replaced with a claims management approach and that is the only system that could work. He explained that this is the reason for the introduction of minimum requirements so that the claimants are aware of what is needed before making an application.

The entity will work very closely with doctors, as there is no reason why the forms must be filled by lawyers when the injuries must be determined by the doctors. It will ensure that doctors can fill these forms, and the forms are also going to change to make it easier for the doctors to fill them. The RAF will also introduce the Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) coding to balance the issues about injuries. This will ensure consistency in the payment of the claims, thereby improving the quality of settlements. Lastly, the RAF will be introducing an inquiry line, which is being piloted out in the mainland, which is the biggest region, and then will be later rolled out in the whole country. The CEO also indicated that RAF will also be provincially based to give easy and equitable access to all citizens.

The Chairperson asked Mr Sithole if his questions had been answered since he had a technical glitch earlier when he was asking questions. He went through some of the questions that Mr Sithole had asked on the chat and checked with the CEO if they were responded to.

Mr Letsoalo said most of the questions were responded to, but the issue around SIU needs proclamation, and there is no proclamation on the RAF. As such, it is working on ensuring that the Department through the Minister gets the RAF the proclamation on these matters.

On corruption, the CEO said the RAF works on what is called claims risk process whereby every claim goes through that process. The RAF also looks at outliers, where it checks what happened, who the claimants are. For instance, it seeks to identify the law firms that are paid the highest and establish why they are in the top 10. It also looks at their claim settlements – the ones that are settling higher than the log. RAF also does internal investigations on high claim pay-outs. However, the difficulty with this is that it is a manual process, so, the RAF wants to work it out more on an integrated management claims system. He said the RAF is mostly going to be proactive than reactive to issues around fraud and corruption. The way RAR has dealt with issues around lawyers and doctors narrowed down the net and, as a result, many people are would be caught out.

Mr Seitlholo thanked the Chairperson for the opportunity to ask a question he had just received. Is RAF currently stopping claimants from lodging claims? He said that he knows that the CEO mentioned the fact that because of Covid-19 they have had to close down on certain offices, but just want to get clarification if they are stopping claimants from lodging claims. If so, why is that? If there are reasons, what are they?

Mr Letsoalo said the entity is not stopping anyone from making claims. The RAF must assess and settle claims, but there must be a claim first. He said he understands where this is coming from, and emphasised that no one was being stopped. People have been coming in and bringing in claims. The RAF has brought in the minimum requirements directives in terms of section 4(1)(a) that says they must set the terms and conditions upon which they administer the compensation claims. The RAF has received documents with no attachments, which has led to 80% of the claims being inaccessible and unsettled. The CEO made it clear that incomplete applications will not be accepted. He pointed out that most of the claims are brought in mostly through their lawyers and they never really come back to make a follow-up because they knew they did not follow protocol. As a result, there are many dormant claims at the RAF. So, to prevent that and make sure the RAF assesses and settles claims within 120 days means that those claims should be claims in terms of section 24, meaning it must have all the requirements in terms of the minimum requirements. It is only the incomplete forms that are not being accepted. The RAF is taking claims.

The Chairperson wrapped up by thanking the RAF team and commended the CEO for the job well done and great communication skills. He was convinced that the public will appreciate knowing what has been communicated to the Committee; he will relay the information to the public as they must know it. He promised to monitor the progress as this something important for the community.  He said the Members agree with the CEO that this scheme has become something else and he was happy that he was correcting it.  He wished the RAF well moving forward and promised that the Committee will support where it needs to and ensure that it moves along with the community.

The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) 2021/22 APP

The Chairperson welcomed the team from RTIA. He expressed his reproach of the fact that the entity has an acting Registrar and acting CFO. He then asked for the DM’s opening remarks.

Deputy Minister’s Overview

In opening the DM explained that Dalian Mabula is from the Department of Transport and that both the Registrar and CFO have been suspended; that is why there is an acting Registrar and CFO in RTIA. She said that internationally, regionally and nationally, particularly in sector legislation policies, the National Development Plan and the National Road Safety Strategy 2017/2030 inform the preeminent areas of the Annual Performance Plan (APP) development. Part of the medium-term targets of the National Road Safety Strategy is to ensure the existence of an intervention that holds motorists accountable through the point demerit system as well as the subsequent suspension and cancellation of the licences belonging to habitual road offenders. The development of the APP 2021/2022 was preceded by an internal and external stakeholder consultation, including the Johannesburg Metro Police, Tshwane Metro Police, Gauteng Department of Community Safety and issuing authorities through the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) National Steering Committee.

The APP 2021/2022 consists of 32 outcome indicator targets, with emphasis on AARTO operation and seven on Government means supply chain and operations of RTIA. An additional outcome indicator relates to the integration of law enforcement of the road entities, which pertains to the rationalisation of RTMC and RTIA law enforcement functions. The Minister is working hard to ensure that the integration happens as speedily to make sure that the implementation of AARTO is done in a conducive environment. RTIA has to change the current APP and resubmit to the Department. It must align with the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) budget that the Minister of Finance pitched to R155 million and must make smart targets.

The changes in the APP will affect previous quarter reports. What is critical is the strategic risk outlined in the APP which includes, but is not limited to, external dependence on external stakeholders like the South African Post Office and RTMC. The AARTO Act prescribed the South African Post Office (SAPO) and electronic service relationship with RTIA and SAPO. Additional to the Risk identified include the eNaTIS (electronic national administration traffic information system) downtime, which is alleged to be experienced by the issuing authority. The lack of performance of the SAPO and AARTO operations as well as the reliance on the systems of RTMC increases the risk of the agency delivering on the mandate as planned. The AARTO rollout will commence on 01 July 2021 and an Appeals Tribunal should be established before that date, in order to preside over the unsuccessful presentations brought by the infringers. The Department is responsible for setting up the Appeals Tribunal and RTIA will provide administrative support. AARTO delivery model will be based in the Provincial offices, Municipal offices, and the Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTC). RTIA will also make sure that there are services of AARTO roll out. On RTIA capacity, she said that the agency is in a process of implementing an organisational structure to support the AARTO rollout.

Key achievements in the previous financial year have a bearing on the 2021/2022 APP. These include the ‘Go live’ feature on the AARTO mobile app and AARTO web portal. These are mainly aimed at improved road user convenience and digitalisation of AARTO services. The progress made registered in the electronic postal services method would aid some postage challenges pending on the agreement with the SAPO services pricing. The board of RTIA is hard at work, hence there are talks about the suspension of the Registrar and the CFO. It took the entity time to be able to submit the annual report, which was based on the challenges that were identified by the National Treasury and the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). As much as the Chairperson of the board had not been able to attend the meeting, the board is hard at work to ensure that this organisation can be able to do its work effectively.

The Committee Chairperson reiterated his dissatisfaction about the absence of the board chairperson and the suspension of the CFO and the Registrar. He indicated that it is not all that time that these entities are invited to the Committee meetings. It does not paint a very good image in terms of the level of commitment by this entity, that when the Committee makes calls the board to Parliament once in a blue moon, the board chairperson is not available. Even though it is understandable, he felt he should make that point whilst the DM was still available. He recommended that the Department rectified that to be on the same footing with the Committee.

The Deputy Minister thanked the Chairperson and promised to coordinate properly so that the Members could have an understanding of what the board chairperson is experiencing. She promised that on their next engagement with the Committee, the board chairperson will be available. She apologised.

RTIA presentation

Dr Kaine Monyepao, Deputy Registrar: strategy, monitoring, and evaluation, RTIA, gave the APP presentation for RTIA. He started by acknowledging that the DM had already outlined most of the critical aspects of the presentation.

Key issues

-The strategy is seriously aligned to legislation imperatives that are necessary for the organisations to comply with.

- Key to the presentation is premised on the importance of the national roll-out of ARRTO

- The importance of road user safety

-  Digitisation of AARTO services in line with the trains in the world today

- The importance of modernising AARTO operations as well as AARTO education and awareness

- Support and guidance from the Minister, the Deputy Minister, and the board during planning.

- There was thorough stakeholder analysis as well as consultations.

- AARTO will help to hold road offenders accountable through a demerit point system and suspension of licences

- The APP of the RTIA is divided into five programmes

- Phase one of the APP mobile App is already rolled out and is now available at Google Play Store

- Driver rehabilitation programme in the pipeline

- Youth are a priority, as they are problematic on the roads and form the most number of individuals acquiring licences.

Mr Caiphus Matjie, Acting CFO, RTIA, started by pointing out that the budget will be realigned to the ENE, which was approved by the Minister of Finance. The projections were done before the Minister of Finance approved the allocation of the ENE budget.

Key issues

-  refining the budget to align with the ENE budget.

- R215 million was allocated to fund the rollout of AARTO.

- Activities such as education and awareness campaigns will be funded.

- Traditional media, print media, and social media platforms will be used.

- Electronic serving of notices will be explored to avoid using the rational mailing, which is no longer effective or reliable.

- Appeals Tribunal will be established and supported by the entity.

- The eNaTIS will be upgraded to prevent downtime.

In the interest of time, the Acting Registrar of the RTIA asked to be allowed to share a written budget breakdown with the Committee.

[Please see presentation document for more details]

The Chairperson approved the request and then opened the floor for Members to engage the presentation.

Discussion

Mr McDonald welcomed the presentation, although he also expressed concern about all the acting incumbents and suspensions. He asked why there is a target of 75% reduction in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and pointed that it should be a target that should be at 100%. He was 100% sure that the Committee had already stated categorically that there must be an end in all the wasteful and fruitless expenditure in the entities of this Department. He also asked if the advertisement campaign will benefit black companies and BBBEE (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment) companies in this advertising.

Mr Mangcu asked several questions. When was the board appointed? Are there any board members in the meeting now? He said he heard the apology of the board chairperson.

What is the budget for the board meetings? How much has been spent? Are the board members paid per meeting or is it a standard payment? He said he also wanted to know the expenses incurred due to problems with SAPO (South African Post Office) mailing, the percentage of the mail not delivered, and how it has been handled in terms of accounting. He also requested clarity on the role of SAPO in the electronic distribution of notices in the future.

Mr Mangcu also pointed out the issue of eNaTIS downtime being a risk factor for RTIA and requested an explanation on that matter. What is the percentage downtime of eNaTIS? To want extent is that risk linked and what are the mitigating factors there?

He also asked about the rolling out of AARTO, which the presenter said would be at 90% in July and then in the next slide said by the second quarter it would be 80%, 5% and 5%.  How did you get to that?

What is the NRTOR system that was spoken about in the presentation that is going to be developed? He said it was disheartening that the entity was still going to develop an audit finding plan. What has been the entity’s audit finding and why has it not been developed yet? When you spoke of the establishment of an Appeals Tribunal, whose responsibility is it to establish this tribunal? Is it in your Act to establish the Tribunal? If it is yet to be established before the national rollout in July, what are your time frames there?

He said there was a lot in the presentation that required clarification and if it were according to him, he would request that it comes back to the PC. Mr Mangcu also spoke on the 360 campaigns in 2020/2021 and then you drastically reduced the targets to 32 per annum in 2021/2022, 48 in 2022/2023, and 72. Can the entity explain how it got to that?

He closed by saying there are too many questions and the presentation was depressing. He went on to speak about how the entity operated for years with an unqualified audit and asked what their new objective is now was in terms of achieving. How do you have this new objective in slide 20? He wrapped up by expressing his frustration on the presentation, which he said was depressing.

Mr Sithole said most of his questions have been answered, still had two that needed clarification. On education and awareness, is there a system to use pamphlets, or there will only be the use of media? He requested that there should have pamphlets to distribute to drivers. Are there now offices in other metros, now that RTIA is talking of ARRTO operating in the rest of the country?

Responses

The Deputy Minister indicated that Mr Mangcu has made a very telling story and demanded that the RTIA returns to the Portfolio Committee (PC) with a better presentation and she agreed with him. She said she will sit down with the Acting Registrar and board members to panel-beat, because the questions that Mr Mangcu raised are really telling questions, which indicate that there is something that needs to be perfected or be shaped in such a way that will be able to give a sense of monitoring to the PC.

Ms Dalian Mabula, Acting Registrar, RTIA, answered some questions and left some to her colleagues.  She said the reason why they mentioned the need to amend the APP is so that some of the issues proposed in the meeting will be changed when they return to the PC. The DM and the Board will be working with them as RTIA. The Board was confirmed by the Cabinet last year.

On the question of the eNaTIS downtime as a risk, a system will always experience times when it will be down. As such, eNaTIS will be down at times. Even though RTIA is highly dependent on the system for administration and adjudication purposes, the system is the mandate of RTMC. RTMC is working hard to upgrade it so that it will be fully operational to avoid frustrating the motorists when AARTO is fully rolled out.

On the issue of the 90% assessment, she said the RTIA pilot in Tshwane has been working with the provinces and issuing authorities to come up with deliverables for the national rollout. They did some readiness assessments so that when the roll is fully implemented, there will be necessary stationery and equipment and the eNaTIS is up and running to implement the AARTO properly. So, that was an assessment task that was undertaken by the entity. A review of the assessment is on the table, as the last assessment was done in 2019/2020 and last year because of the Covid-19 the exercise was not carried out. But, some issuing authorities have already communicated with the entity saying they are ready for the national rollout.

On the development of the implementation of the AGSA, she said it was an oversight matter. An action plan has been developed to implement the AG findings of 2019/2020. In terms of the FY2021/22, RTIA will be reporting progress in the implementation, not that the entity will be starting to develop the action plan; it is already developed. The current challenge is that the entity has implemented lots of findings, but other findings that are related to AGSA pending the investigations will be addressed once that particular area is addressed because the investigation needs to be concluded. The establishment of the Appeals Tribunal is the mandate of the Department and the entity only provides the secretariat function in that particular space.

Dr Monyepao said that black companies will benefit from the project that is put out there. Black companies will be prioritised, particularly the youth and women. On the matter of slide 12 on the 90% targeted issues for rollout, the 90% was the annual target broken into three: 80%, 5 % and 5% - making it 90%.

Responding to the question on the NRTOR (National Road Traffic Offences Register), he reminded the Members that he had said he will not speak to that and explained that in the Amendment Act of NRTOR is defined as the National Road Traffic Offences Register. It is the National Credit Regulator (NCR), which is based on the eNaTIS. The view is that there is no need to develop a new system when there is an existing system that is working well. Rather amplify the existing system instead of developing another one.

In response to Mr Mangcu’s question on the establishment of tribunals, he said that the DoT is responsible for the establishment of the Appeals Tribunal, but the RTIA must support it. There is currently a shortlist of the Appeals Tribunal and it is anticipated that the final appointment will be concluded by the end of May 2021. It was noted that the presentation needs to return to the Committee.

On the question of moving from the 360 campaigns to a lower number, he said that in the previous financial year, a campaign in the technical descriptor was defined as one social media post. The view of RTIA is that it is very little because a campaign is a series of activities. The idea of the RTIA is to have fewer campaigns with a lot of activities. For example, the target was that the campaign should have not less than five national activities that will exceed the 360 that was performed in the previous financial year.

In response to Mr Sithole's question on education and awareness, he said that there are pamphlets for all the campaigns where they talk about legislative education, AARTO options, and so on. There is currently collaboration with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to amplify that. There is also something called ARRTO Friday where the pamphlets are distributed to road users.

On the question of offices around the country, he confirmed their availability. The entity is currently working with municipalities and has entered MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding). It has received office spaces in all the identified operational areas.

Mr Caiphus Matjie, Acting CFO, RTIA, responded to Mr McDonald’s question on the 75% target for fruitless and wasteful expenditure, saying that there is currently an investigation that is going on that relates to some of the audit findings, which is not yet concluded. The 75% is going to be determined by the investigations. However, the entity is striving to have a 100% reduction in terms of fruitless and wastage expenditure because that does not give a good picture about the accounting for the money that has been allocated to the entity. The agency is striving to move to 100%. However, because of the ongoing investigation, it does not say 100%, hence the 75%.

On the budget question from Mr Mangcu, he indicated that there is a budget of R3 million, of which R2.9 million has been spent to date. He said the board members are paid per meeting, including preparations and the day spent on the meetings. The rest is determined by the National Treasury. The returned email is a headache for the entity. However, the agreement with the SAPO is that the entity only pays for the successfully delivered mail to infringers will be made. Therefore, there are no financial losses incurred for the returned mail.

The Portfolio Committee (PC) Chairperson, in his closing remarks, said that the Committee has heard the entity; the entity should now do some work and bring it back to the Committee. He said that if the Department is dealing with the matters of discipline on any level, the Committee should be seen to be supporting that initiative. It took the Department about three years to discipline the head of the institution. He made a plea to the DM to deal with the suspension speedily because it puts the Members in a position where they cannot categorically say it is the fault of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT) or the Department because the Department is acting at the level of this entity. It should be resolved urgently so that it does not affect the performance of the entity. He indicated to the DM that this is the second entity this week where the PC is expressing pleasure at the quality of the work that is being done. He said it was the wish of the PC that the Department should pay attention to this entity going forward. The PC will also keep an eye on the entity and assist where needed. He thanked RTIA and released them.

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) 2021/22 APP

Deputy Minister’s Remarks

The DM greeted and welcomed the RTMC team and asked that since it is a Friday, ‘Woza Friday Izokusetha’, they should give the PC a presentation that will warm their hearts and keep them smiling throughout the weekend. She said it was very enticing for her because the RTMC had been able to make the Department proud in making sure that they lived up to the Member's expectations, particularly with the targets of 80% achievement in their APP in the financial year of 2019/2020. It has not been an easy walk for them to be able to reach where they are because by 2013, they were only able to achieve 27% of their expected outcomes. RTMC has been operating in an increasingly challenging economic and physical environment. However, despite the challenges, the organisation has increased its revenue collection by 18% in the past five years. It has aggressively pursued alternative revenue streams and in this coming year, she believes that it will be self-sustainable because even the policies and the Acts are demanding that from RTMC.

The DM said, bearing in mind that the primary mandate of RTMC is to contribute to the road safety and responsible road usage by the commuters of South Africa, the number of road fatalities in South Africa has really declined from 14 070 in 2016 to 12 503 in 2019. While this is encouraging, it is still far too high because the DoT anticipated that 6 984 road fatalities would be experienced in South Africa considering that the United Nations Decade of Action expects that the Department would have fatalities as we are dealing with the work. By 2030 the entity should have achieved what is expected from it by the National Development Plan. The founding fathers envisioned that the RTMC will bring about changes in the road traffic sector by eliminating the fragmentation of responsibilities for all aspects of road traffic management across the various levels of government. To achieve this, the MECs, SALGA, and the Ministry of Transport have approved the national traffic law enforcement code. The implementation of this code will bring about uniformity across government in the enforcement of legislation. It will also introduce consistent norms and standard operating procedures. RTMC promised to employ two developers to meet RTS's expectations on the AARTO rollout programme. For the 2021 financial year, the entity has set clear targets that are very measurable. This will ensure that RTMC remains a purpose-driven organisation that is managed efficiently and with high levels of credibility.

On the Chairperson’s statement that he wished there can be a merger of the entities, the DM indicated that the Minister is busy dealing with the amalgamation of the RTMC, RTIA, and DCLA with the hope that it will be able to work towards a progressive and sustainable and integrated programme. The belief is that once they have been merged, the services will be closer to the people instead of going from one entity to another.  But, critical in that matter, is safety on the road overall and responsible road usage by the people of the Republic of South Africa.

Briefing by the RMTC

Mr Zola Majavu, RMTC Board Chairperson, introduced his team and clarified issues around his title, dress code, and other national duties he will be embarking on. He also gave an update on outstanding issues before handing them over to the CEO.

Key issues

- The entity updated the Committee on the three issues raised in the previous meeting.

- Firstly, it was made clear to the entity by Members that they need to do all that is necessary to ensure that their financial sustainability.

- The second question that the Committee raised quite sharply was to ensure the national law enforcement code was indeed approved and implemented, even though they were not responsible for the approval; the approval rests with the shareholders and Cabinet.

-The last issue was that when they reported at that time, they were unable to take up the cadets because of the challenges that they had with various training venues and did indicate that they might not achieve the 1 000 cadets that they had undertaken to do. But they have now started taking the Cadets.

Mr Makhosini Msibi, CEO: RTMC, in his opening statement acknowledged and appreciated the guidance and unwavering support they are getting from the Minister, DM, and the board.

Key issues on APP

- Establishment of the first academy of traffic law enforcement that will accommodate 2 000 students at a time.

- Upgrading of the eNaTIS

- The role of the RTMC

- Organisational performance

- Pending issues such fraud and corruption and reduction of the carnages on SA roads

- The core problem in the country being the unsafely of the roads

- The budget clarification

[Please see presentation document for more details]

Discussion

Mr Mangcu drew attention to one of the comments made and asked to know about the roles. Is it the Cabinet’s decision or Committee decision to approve the code? He said very little was said on the audits. What are the issues that the entity is dealing with as it relates to audits? What does withheld in slide 13 on the functional areas of RTMC mean?

On the green columns where it says within the RTMC there is something called infrastructure safety audits, what infrastructure is being referred to? A lot can be said about the budget itself. When talking about reduced road fatalities and targets, there should be consistency in the presentation of the statistics. “If you are talking percentages, talk percentages, and if you are talking numbers, talk numbers, as inconsistency makes it difficult to follow.”

On the quarterly targets as he had asked before, Mr Mangcu was interested in the effort – the number of interventions. What has been the input in terms of cost? How many were reduced and how many were scrapped? Slide 33 talks about road transport inspectorate targets dependent on the full operations of borders. What does this mean, because there is road transport moving and there is inspectorate there? Does the entity’s reports and targets include road transport, the function that it is doing for the CBRTA, or is it purely road traffic as it relates to Road Traffic Act? He closed by saying that he would have asked more but it was all fat with no meat. He was looking for meat in the presentation. Overall, he gave the presentation a score of 49%.

Mr Sithole asked for the entity’s audit opinion, as it was not reflecting on the presentation documents. On fraud and corruption, why did the RAF fail and what system or mechanism does it have now to deal with the fraud and corruption? He said the risk of non-compliance with law and regulations speaks to what they are supposed to do as an entity and to deal with fraud and corruption. 

Mr P Mey (FF+) asked a question on the renewal driver's license card. The government gazette was published on the 19th of December 2013, amending Regulation 108 to extend the period from five to ten years. A further amendment was published on 13 October 2014, government gazette number 38142, which again amended the entire Regulation 108 and effectively changed the period back to five years. Why can it not be made ten years instead of five years?

Mr Majavu answered questions related to governance and accountability issues and left the operational bits to the CEO. He accepted what Mr Mangcu said about the fat and the meat of the presentation and promised to strike that delicate balance. He reminded the Members that in the last meeting, where when the issue came up, he specifically asked for guidance from the PC. Previously, they were accused of overburdening the documents that they submit to the PC and were told to hold back. They were told to try and compact, knowing that they were making a presentation as part of other entities that came before them. As such, they were told to limit their presentations to highlights and facts.

In the last meeting, another Member then said it would be interesting or helpful to provide additional information but there were no guidelines as to how much more information should be given. He accepted constructive criticism and promised to find a delicate balance. Secondly, this is treated as an accountability session. The details and the meat are always in the annual reports because that is where substantiation is done. If the Committee directors were to try and add more meat and less fat, the entity will endeavour to do that. That was the difficulty they had. For example, in a presentation, they are always constrained to highlight that which is important for the agenda of the day. They thought they should focus on the APP and how well they were faring in the targets. The CEO skipped the first seven slides because he felt an hour was not enough to preach to legislators about the entity’s legislation. The details Mr Mangcu mentioned were readily available and could be immediately shared.

The audit opinion for the past two years were clean audits, with matters of emphasis. There were only two matters of emphasis that the entity was expected to improve. One is related to the irregular expenditure, which was less than 50 000 at the time and is now sitting on 3 940. For the year going forward, the entity is heading for a clean audit. The functional areas the entity has held came about because from 2009 right up to 2012, Parliament had decided to close RTMC three times because there was a view that it was useless, not performing and did not have a governance structure. When they were appointed in December 2013, they assumed office in January, and three months down the line, it was the financial year-end. As a result, they assumed responsibility for the performance that was not theirs, which is why it was sitting at roughly 27% or so. But at that time, the RTMC had a governance structure; it had a board. Part of the problems that RMTC had at the time was that it was difficult for politicians to provide oversight. So, in the fairness of those who came before them as executives, it was laissez-faire because there was no oversight. It was only when they committed to signing a compact with the shareholder that they agreed that until it can prove that it will get the governance right as a start, they will start giving the shareholder all the functional areas withheld by the Department. It was only when they proved to be stabilising the organisation that they started receiving these functional areas that had been withheld.  The last three to be withheld were withheld not because the shareholders were not satisfied with the stability, but it was due to the revenue streams, and there was contestation about that between RTMC and the Department.

Legislatively, those functional areas that were withheld belonged to the RTMC, but it is not for them to go and demand them and remove them if the shareholder feels otherwise.  He said all these entities should be allowed back where they belonged. RTIA is also biblically an offshoot of the RTMC because when the issue of the AARTO (Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act) came into being and the infringements, it was supposed to be functional areas within the RTMC. The legislators at the time and the shareholder decided to build a self-standing entity, and that is why the RTA exists. So, it is no brainer that the current leadership has deemed it prudent to rationalise and look at mandates that are cross-pollinating and bring them back together. The chances are that in the next presentations, the entities may not be talking about that functional area as withheld because the two entities would have merged or been rationalised in whatever form or shape. The intention is to get those functional areas that have been withheld back where they belong. They have to get policy directives and guidance from the shareholder but their shareholder is very complicated because there are competing political interests. To try and bring all those things together was a challenge in the past, but not anymore.  The Chairman was confident that at the next round of accountability sessions all of the shareholder functional areas in whatever form or shape would have come back where they belong legislatively.

Mr Msibi said that the issue of the codes in terms of Section 32 of the RTMC Act is the responsibility of the CEO, the National Commissioner of Police, and the CEO of SALGA (South African Local Government Association). Section 32 says that the CEO, National Commissioner of Police, and the CEO of SALGA shall develop a code. However, in terms of governance, the approval lies with the shareholder because all of them account for it. After all, it has an angle of the law enforcement. Why even the National Commissioner of Police? It is because of the ranking structure that has been a thorn as well. What ranking structure is going to apply to traffic law enforcement?  The power to approve the code rests with the shareholder and the Minister. To that extent, it is only prudent in terms of governance that it should also inform the Cabinet because the code is a great departure from what existed within the law enforcement, but the power to approve rests with the Chair.

The reduction of the fatalities percentages vis-à-vis the numbers need empathy. In the presentation, it was indicated that in 2011 when South Africa joined the entire international community in terms of the Decade of Action, there was an undertaking that from the 2011 number, which was 13 000 of the fatalities. South Africa will reduce by 50%. The 50% of that then gave the 6 000 fatalities, so it is proper that when one accounts, they give both the percentage as well as the numbers reduced. The presentation gives both percentage and the number because the entity also accounts to the international community concerning the Decade of Action. There must an indication of any movement whether it is a decreasing or increasing number.  The construction of infrastructure audits vests with the South African National Road Agency (SANRAL). However, for the best practices adopted in terms of the United Nations Decade of Action, the audit vests with the leading entity of the road traffic management. To that extent, it is the RTMC. It will be reported sometime that the entity shares with the Committee that even roads are graded. So, this audit relates to the grading. Roads are graded in terms of the stars just like the hotels, which are graded by one star, two stars, three stars, four stars, and five stars. RTMC scientifically grades the roads accordingly, whether or not the roads accommodate pedestrians. Those are the audits the entity is doing in terms of compliance concerning the road safety initiatives informed by the international standards.  

On the target of the law enforcement, he explained that the entity looks at the value that is invested inclusive of the overtime that has been worked and they also give the time or the period of the overtime. The overtime is between the festive season and the Easter season. That will also dovetail with municipalities or provinces when they have crossed the 30% threshold of overtime.

The closure of the borders relates to the cross boarder inspectorate issue, which now resorts with the RTMC. The cross-border inspectorate deals with the movement cross borders compliance. So, when the borders are closed the RTI, which is the Road Traffic Inspectorate, is rendered redundant because what they need to look into cannot be done. Yes, there will be movement of trucks that will be in there, but there is a down-scaling of operations. The Beitbridge border with Zimbabwe, for instance, has seen a dramatic scale down in terms of the movement and this has impacted the operation of the traffic inspectorate.

Responding to Mr Mey’s question on the renewal of the driver's licenses, Mr Msibi spoke in Afrikaans [Please refer to the audio, from 1:23:12 – 1:24:25]. The medical condition of the drivers in the country needs to be checked from time to time. The diseases that have come to the fore, such as sugar diabetes and high blood pressure, warrant that the state of the health of drivers be checked regularly. Thus, it was prudent that the regulations be amended again to five years.

Mr Mey said that the only reason he goes to the entity is for an eye test and to also complete a form and to pay the money. Why can I not go to an optician? He said even though he will still pay the money it was better than the long queues at the Department. In places like Port Elizabeth people that go there at 3 o'clock or 4 a.m., which is unacceptable?

Mr Msibi said, on the issue of medical compliance, that they have been given instructions to integrate the online system with the optometrists. In the next three or six months, it will be seen that the optometrists will add eye test results online so that when people go there, they will not have to wait in the long queues for the renewal of the driver's license. It will be automatically ordered by the doctor. It is in the programme that the Minister is giving in the next six months or so, and it will be infused into the online system.

The Chairperson commended the DM for her good attitude and commitment in terms of the proceedings of the day and her commitment to ensuring that when there are issues she deals with them. The Committee still has to deal with RAF as a Bill that was rejected by the Committee and will find time to resuscitate that and bring it to its logical conclusion. This was one of the best presentations since the Committee started and it is not for the first time that RTMC has shown its capability of delivering good work. He told the Chairperson of the board, Mr Majavu, that at some point when he returns to the Committee, they will have to deal with the proposal on the table about him taking over the traffic officers in the province. He was impressed by his work and self-sustenance. The fact that he no longer waits for hand-outs tells a story in terms of his capacity, since he started in 2013. If other entities would come to the level of what had been seen at that meeting, the government will be respected by the people of South Africa.

The Chairperson thanked the DM for her time and the RTMC team for the good work. He said he hoped that they would talk about the zip cameras that are here when they will launch them, but because of time constraints, he understood.

Mr Majavu reminded the Members that in the last meeting they extended an invitation to the Portfolio Committee, as part of bringing Parliament to the people, to come and just see their operations. The board chairperson had attended the first meeting leading a Committee but there was not enough time for them to see the operations because they are performing oversight over a huge national key point. He hoped that they find will find the time because they are dealing with serious weaponry that they have procured.  He also wants them to see the issues that Mr MacDonald and Mr Mey have spoken about on licenses so that they can appreciate the TASIMA animal they keep talking about. The PC will then appreciate the magnitude of the task when RTMC talks about infrastructure and protection of personal information. It is huge, and just so that embers can know first-hand when SANTACO is mentioned. They perform serious operations and they bring serious criminals to book. He wished that the Committee sees the real nuts and bolts of that entity. The experience will give the PC an oversight and enhance its understanding to be able to press the entity further and hold it more accountable.

The Chairperson said the Committee will honour that request. The Committee has been prioritising entities such as PRASA because of the challenges there and, in the process, neglected its other ‘children’. He said that this will be rectified.

He then thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.

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