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‘We have fully taken over eNatis’ – transport minister

Newly appointed Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi sworn in by Justice Sisi Khampepe. Picture Credit: ELIJAR MUSHIANA
Newly appointed Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi sworn in by Justice Sisi Khampepe. Picture Credit: ELIJAR MUSHIANA

After 10 years of legal battles‚ transport minister Joe Maswanganyi on Thursday announced that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) had taken over the premises and infrastructure of Tasima to run the electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS).

He said the sheriff of the court arrived at the Midrand offices of Tasima to enforce a court order handed down by the North Gauteng High Court on Monday.

Tasima’s leave to appeal the decision was turned down on Wednesday.

“We believe that we have come to the end of the road when it comes to legal battles. We are more than ready to run eNatis‚” Maswanganyi told the media‚ speaking inside a boardroom in the Tasima offices‚ where the mood was joyous.

“RTMC‚ which is an agency of department‚ has since May 2015 been ready to administer the eNaTIS system. However‚ their state of readiness has been delayed by the service provider‚” he said.

“We have trained staff members at RTMC. We have also trained personnel in provinces and municipalities.”

Maswanganyi said RTMC’s takeover would save the department of transport an average of R30-million a month but a lot needed to be done in terms of technology upgrades and maintenance.

He also responded to a statement issued by Tasima this morning‚ which indicated it would be taking the decision on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal and that RTMC had “illegally and unlawfully stormed the Tasima offices” last night.

“We did not unlawfully storm the building. The Constitutional Court made the judgment‚ and it was not ambiguous‚” he said.

“But we want to indicate that we have no intentions to have an adversarial relationship with Tasima. We are requesting a smooth handover. Tasima was mandated to build and operate the infrastructure and then transfer it smoothly to government.

“We are not demonising them‚ we had an agreement with them. But the processes evolved to where we are now‚ hence the court applications to get them to transfer it to government.”

He said they were not “intending to fight Tasima forever” and thanked them for their work in establishing the system.

 

 

 

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