Road Traffic chief scores R8 million payday
Road Traffic chief executive officer Adv. Makhosini Msibi has scored a R3 million bonus as part of a pay package that topped nearly R8 million in the 2016/17 financial year.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation forms part of the Department of Transport and is responsible for vehicle registration, traffic information systems, public communication and traffic law enforcement.
Msibi’s bonus comes after Minister of Transport, Joe Maswanganyi announced that South African motorists can expect to pay more in national licensing transaction fees in 2018.
In terms of The Road Traffic Management Corporation Act, local registering authorities (licensing centres) must pay the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) a transaction fee for each motorist it processes.
This is subsequently passed on to the applicant and added to the annual licence fee.
The fees will increase by R30 – from R42 to R72 – as of 1 February 2018, the department said.
“The increase of R30 per transaction equates to a whopping 71.43% increase in this transaction fee, raising it from R42 per transaction to R72 per transaction,” said Howard Dembovsky, national chairman – Justice Project South Africa.
In the previous year, the former Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters increased this transaction fee from R36 to R42 per transaction, an increase of 16.67%, he pointed out, adding that the current reported inflation rate in South Africa is 4.8%.
Citing its annual report, Dembovsky said that the RTMC managed to rake in R453,143,790 in transactions fees in the 2016/17 financial year, an increase of R33,299,526.00 or 7.93% over the 2015/16 financial year, despite fewer transactions having apparently occurred in the last financial year.
He said that at the same time, the remuneration package of the CEO increased by 31.6% from R5.95 million in 2015/16 to R7.83 million in the 2016/17 financial year. This included a bonus of R2.93 million, up from R1.45 million in the prior year, and ‘other benefits’ of R2.12 million.
Other executive senior management remuneration packages at the RTMC increased by an average of 19.11% whilst non-executive Board members’ remuneration packages increased by an average of 22.16%, Dembovsky said.
He argued that the recent termination of the RTMC’s contract with Tasima, which contact was unlawfully renewed by former Minister S’bu Ndebele in 2010, should have had the effect of decreasing the input and maintenance costs of the eNaTIS vehicle and driver registry.
“Therefore, beyond increasing the outrageously high remuneration packages which are paid to RTMC executives and Board members, there appears to be no rational reason for the truly massive increase in transaction fees the minister has proclaimed,” Dembovsky said.
He said this is especially true given the fact that the vehicle population is growing. JPSA said that between 30 September 2016 and 30 September 2017, the registered vehicle population grew by 211,816, a figure which is consistent with the trends of vehicle registrations which have taken place in recent years.
As at 30 September 2017, there were 12,153,062 vehicles registered on eNaTIS, all of which must be licensed annually, regardless of whether they are used on public roads or not.
JPSA called on minister Maswanganyi to justify, or at the very least explain the increase in transaction fees, “especially in light of the fact that the RTMC has consistently failed to achieve its mandate with respect to enhancing road safety and reducing the catastrophically high carnage which exists on South Africa’s roads”.
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