Weekend reports that 70 000 people were erroneously listed as “dead” on the electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) are vastly exaggerated, and it is a known problem that is being addressed, says spokesman Phillip van der Merwe.
eNatis is the official system that manages all road traffic related transactions that are performed at provincial offices or local authorities. This includes all vehicle licensing, vehicle registration, driving licences, accidents and infrastructure transactions.
The system cost the Department of Transport more than R400 million to build and, when it was first deployed in 2007, a number of system failures caused mayhem for vehicle owners. However, it has been seemingly operating smoothly until this weekend.
A report in Die Burger quoted Adriaan van Niekerk, a Stellenbosch businessman and former member of Parliament, saying he found out he was “dead” according to the eNatis system when he tried to renew the licence for one of his cars.
According to the report, some “70 000” living people are registered as deceased on the system.
Van der Merwe says that claim is “vastly exaggerated and it is a known problem for us”.
However, he could not say just how much of an exaggeration the claim is, as he was waiting for the Department of Transport to issue an official statement later today.
Van der Merwe also says staffing levels at eNatis software contractor Tasima are stable and it has all the required employees it needs, with a full complement of 200 people.
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