JMPD’s debt-check roadblocks under legal scrutiny

Joburg City council officials are planning to join Joburg metro (JMPD) cops at roadblocks this weekend to check up on municipal account defaulters, but no-one will be arrested for being in arrears.

City of Joburg manager Floyd Brink says the plan is to have municipal officials present at roadblocks set up by the JMPD and for them to check on motorists who may owe the city money.

But the scheme may well be illegal, because traffic police powers do not extend to debt collection for the council.

Mpumelelo Zikalala of Zikalala Attorneys said the city was burning the rules and this would create fear among motorists who were not aware of their rights.

“I think they will be able to get those who are not informed about their rights; it’s not everyone that will know that they do not have to pay and that if they do not pay, they will not be arrested.

“The fear of getting arrested when you are in the roadblock is usually the only thing on your mind,” he said.

“What they are doing may be a legally compliant tactic but on a moral basis, I don’t think they should be doing this.”

Brink said the initiative had nothing to do with using JMPD to arrest customers who had defaulted on utility bills.

Uniformed officers would look at motorists’ outstanding fines and anything related to law enforcement. However, city officials would be part of the roadblock.

“Our purpose of checking the utility bills would be done by the normal civilians (city officials), not in uniform, but they will form part of that roadblock.

“It is very similar to an open day. They will access your information, assess it, then advise you on what needs to be done,” he said.

“We will check issues in regards to your utility bills but there will be advisors from the revenue department that will be indicating to you the different options that you have in terms of settling your accounts and so forth.”

“It is not to take cash or anything at this point. It will be fine if they can swipe and so on. As we are moving, we will have the different facilities available as we move,” he said.

“It’s a proactive step from the city. We need every cent and we need to ensure we collect every cent that is owed to the city.”

Finance MMC Dada Morero tabled a R80.9-billion budget in June, saying the city needed R4.3 billion a month to run, but at that time its “coffers were dry”.

Zikalala said the JMPD sharing a motorist’s identity number with the city officials would be an invasion of the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popi Act).

“Before I give you whatever details you might need, I need to give you consent to do so.

“If they (city officials) were to approach from the street without the police being there, I don’t think people would provide that information. If they ask you in front of the police, the chances of you refusing will be limited because you would be scared of the police,” he said.

Brink said the city would not be derailed as the administrators of Johannesburg.

“We know what we want; our leaders are clear; we have got the support from the MMCs; we will be moving forward,” he said.

City of Joburg spokesperson Kgamanyane Maphologela said motorists’ rights remained entrenched, supported by the laws of the country and the intention of the city was not to violate these rights in anyway.