Byline: Nonjabuliso Nhlambo

07 November 2023


The Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security, and Liaison (DCSSL) is in the process of reversing all fraudulently acquired and issued license disks.

This comes after the Revenue Management Section of the Department uncovered information that between the 6th and 9th of October 2023, the Department suffered a huge loss of over R35 million in KwaMhlanga and Siyabuswa licensing stations as a result of corrupt syndicates that fraudulently renewed license disks and illegally written penalty fees.

Revenue Management could not reconcile the license disk issued with the revenue in the government’s coffers. An investigation was done, which revealed that the fraudulent activity happened at the two stations.

The department has now launched a program to recover the loss. All fraudulent set-aside and wrongly cancelled penalties will be reinstated for fleet owners. It means the money that the department lost in unduly issued license disks will be steadily recovered.

Furthermore, an admin mark will be placed on such license disks. This will force owners to come forward.

Once their disks have been cancelled, they will be forced to come forward and renew such disks again, and they will be compelled to pay all outstanding penalties, which are accumulating on an ongoing basis.

The Department, on the other hand, is awaiting RTMC to install biometrics for all officials in licensing. This means that no one will be able to log in with the details of another. They will be using their fingerprints to access the system once it has been installed.

The Department will continue to work with all the stakeholders and law enforcers to root out fraud and corruption in the licensing environment.

The modus operandi is that some officials may have been paid in order to compromise their login details to syndicates. The investigation is ongoing to determine exactly what happened. Those who are found in the wrong will have to face the full consequences of their actions.

The Department further notes that since 2020, about 20 officials have been arrested, and these officials’ cases are currently undergoing court processes relating to fraud and corruption. Three fleet companies were also arrested this year in connection with malfeasance in licensing.

Mpumalanga MEC for Community Safety, Security, and Liaison, Mr. Vusi Shongwe, warns motorists and truck owners owing license fees to refrain from colluding with syndicates and corrupt officials in order to evade paying fully due license and/or outstanding fines and penalties.

Shongwe says that although the department is busy trying to recover the funds, those who were involved must be arrested.

He also calls on members of the community to report corruption through the anti-corruption hotline, which is:
0800 701 701