Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Road Fund says it is collecting seven out of every 10 Electronic Spot Fines (eSpot Fine) imposed on motorists. That is a huge jump from the three it collected from every 10 fines back in 2019.
Speaking at a performance review of the eSpot Fine system last Friday, Road Fund Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nkekeletse Makara, said they were satisfied with the performance.
The eSpot Fine system is a joint effort of the Road Fund, Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL), the police and Engidata, a local IT company. This system enables traffic offenders to pay their fines through the ETL mobile money facility.
Makara said the review meeting was long overdue as the electronic spot fine has been fully operational since September 2019. “The Road Fund is entrusted to collect road user charges through various streams,” Makara said.
“The road traffic offences charged by the police through issuance of spot fines to road users needs to be well executed,” he said.
“This will not only enable the collection of funds but also save lives and restore order and compliance to traffic laws in the country.
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Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tšeliso Moerane, said since the introduction of the eSpot Fine, a number of Traffic Police Officers had shown enthusiasm for their work.
“Even though they are not yet perfect, their skills are definitely improving for the better,” SACP Moerane said.
The Road Fund Head of Finance, Mphaphathi Ramanyalane, said in 2023 the sum of issued spot fines totalled 34 000, with only 22 906 of them paid while 11 104 remain overdue.
Senior police officers in attendance indicated that even though the eSpot Fine system has improved their work in several ways, they are still facing a number of challenges.
They said this includes overdue fines slapped on taxi drivers who then do not tell the vehicle owners that they had been issued with spot fines. They said there are also people who sell their vehicles and fail to disclose to buyers that they have pending fines.
“Sometimes the online payment points do not function thereby hindering road users from paying fines within the stipulated seven days’ time-frame,” one of them said.
Another challenge they talked about was related to access to networks in rural areas, as the devices are internet-based. They called for an increase in the number of devices as they have always been limited.
The System Administrator at the police, Senior Inspector Moeketsi Mahetlane, said before the introduction of the eSpot Fine compliance was low. He said sometimes even the stationery would run out.
“The unpaid cases could not be easily traced,” S/Insp Mahetlane said.
“The compliance was dependent on the will of the traffic offenders,” he said.
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