Tasima fails in bid to hold on to eNatis

Tasima’s control of eNatis ended on Wednesday after the High Court in Pretoria denied it leave to appeal against its order to hand it over to the Road Traffic Management Corporation.

Tasima’s control of the electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) system ended on Wednesday after the High Court in Pretoria denied it leave to appeal against an earlier decision to hand it over to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

This means that by Thursday morning, the RTMC will have access to the system, its codes and premises.

In it’s application for leave to appeal Tasima said handing over the system to the corporation within 24 hours as ruled by the court would lead to a disorderly transfer that could compromise the system’s integrity or security. But the RTMC dismissed this, saying it had been prepared since mid-2015 to assume full control of the system.

The electronic registry of vehicle information allows for, among other things, sales or transfer of vehicles and issuing of licences, administering R14bn in road-traffic revenue from about 2-million transactions per day at 2,700 sites nationally.

Tasima had been in control of the system since 2002, but the RTMC had challenged a 2010 five-year contract extension that the Constitutional Court overturned in November 2016.

The company is controlled by Thuthukani Information Technology Services, which is jointly owned by Fannie Mahlangu and Zuko Vabaza.

The legal battles had prompted about 22 different applications to the court from both parties, RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi said.

“There is no chaos issue,” said Msibi.

“We have 700 years of experience in the personnel waiting in the wings. We are talking about people who designed the system, they understand the mechanics of the system. All that they know is the eNatis system, that is their forte,” he said. Judge Neil Tuchten, who had ruled on Monday that keys, codes and access could be handed over while any other issues were dealt with, said Wednesday’s application lacked reasonable grounds for success.

Tasima said on Wednesday it would not comment on the judgment.