Payment of Fines

Question

Before I renewed my vehicle's license and my driver's license in July 2009 I checked www.payfine.co.za to make sure I have no fines outstanding. There was none, and I received nothing in the mail. I renewed both licenses without incident. Now suddenly, end August 2009, www.payfine.co.za shows 3 outstanding fines with infringement dates in April 2009 and May 2009. I have still not received anything via post or any notice of any kind. According to "6.1.4 A written notice in terms of section 341 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 55 of 1977 shall be posted to the licensed owner of the motor vehicle within 30 days of the date of the offence." http://www.arrivealive.co.za/pages.aspx?nc=prosecuting I should have received a notice by now. Is there any way I can check if/when a notice has been mailed to me? If not, do I just ignore it? What about road blocks now? Do I just let them arrest me? If I get assaulted while in custody?

Answer

Payfine manages the online payment of fines on behalf of Johannesburg Metro. I am not sure if there are any other municipalities also involved.

Johannesburg Metro Police Department is operating under the AARTO Act, therefore the infringements in question would not be subject to the Criminal Procedures Act, unless it is an offence. That said there are also clear timelines stipulated in the AARTO Act for processing of these infringements.

My suggestion is that Mr De Swart get in touch with JMPD to query the validity of the infringement before he gets stopped at a roadblock. Perhaps the RTMC can also assist in the dispute resolution. Their contact details are on www.aarto.co.za.