By Masilo Malakwane
QWAQWA – In an effort to implement the vehicle scrappage policy in the Free State province, the Department of Police, Roads and Transport has issued a public notice inviting vehicle owners to come and release their cars from the police impound yard by completing the necessary procedures to get them cleared.
According to the department Communications manager, Saki Mohono, 472 vehicles in the province are destined to be scrapped come December if their owners fail to comply and collect them.
He told The Guard that these vehicles include those that have been seized by traffic authorities since 2014 for failing to meet fitness tests of road traffic management standards. Others were carrying passengers without permits.
“Forty-three of this vehicles are from the Qwaqwa government garage. The date of the scrapping will be announced in due course once the owners have been informed via registered mail and various media platforms,” Mohono said.
After visiting the Qwaqwa government garage pound on Wednesday, this publication found vehicles which were mostly four-plus-one cabs that were apparently operating without permits, and those that the authorities said had failed to pay traffic fines.
The department’s provincial registrar, Mangaliso Xaba indicated that they have issued final notices to motorists, asking them to release their vehicles.
“If vehicle owners fail to complete the procedures to get their vehicles released, the authority will begin scrapping them through December 2021”.
Xaba added that some of these vehicles have been kept in the government garage yard since 2014 and need to be collected by their rightful owners by completing the necessary procedures.
“The owners of the vehicles have until December 1 to release their vehicles or risk being scrapped,” he said.
Meanwhile, the secretary of an illegal taxi association called Pan African Transport Corporation Tshepo Rasenekane, said some of their members had their vehicles confiscated in previous years by the provincial registrar since they could not afford to pay their outstanding payments including storage fees.
“The authorities were very harsh towards us due to our daily struggle of not having our taxis operating legally based on our well-known derailed negotiations with the department,” Rasenekane said.
