There has been an increase in South Africans being charged traffic fines for offences they did not commit.
This is due to bad actors cloning license plates and using them while committing traffic offences.
Unfortunately, it’s up to the legitimate owner of the vehicle to prove their innocence and have the fines dropped.
Stefanie Fick, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) executive director of its accountability division, has advised South Africans to attend to these matters as soon as possible should they receive a false fine.
She indicated that such drivers would need to bring the matter to the authorities, with the terms of Aarto outlining that they’ll need to make representations to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency or a prosecutor.
Fick added that, similar to a criminal or civil court case, there is no real onus, and the legitimate owner’s representation must be convincing.
“If the legitimate owner’s car is different to the cloned vehicle, your ability to show that it is cloned will be easier, for example,” said Fick.
“If you elect to be tried in court, then the onus will be on the State.”
Additionally, the National Road Transport Act assumes that the owner of a vehicle is the driver.
Fick added that this assumption can be challenged or rebutted by presenting opposing evidence and refuted by the driver.
Her main advice for South Africans in these situations is to avoid letting the fines escalate and bring them to the authorities as soon as possible.
She also noted that one could consider getting a new number plate if the situation worsens.
Another avenue is to sue the Department of Transport, although she added that this course of action will result in expenses that exceed a potential payout for most motorists.
Massive fines committed by someone else
A clear example of this trend comes from Peter (a pseudonym), who spoke to Cape Talk in March 2025 about the numerous fines he received for offences he never committed.
He said that he’d received fine notices totalling R3,400, but when he looked at the speeding camera’s captured image, it showed a different vehicle with his licence plate.
“I’ve received three speeding fines with a total of R2,400. Then I also discovered when I went to the traffic department, there was another fine of R1,000,” he said.
Peter added that this additional fine was discovered as a part of a “search results summary”, but details about it were scarce, including only “something about verification rejected, safety cam”.
He was unable to obtain further details.
Following this, he approached the police to ask for advice and laid an identity theft charge.
“I showed them all the documents I have — pictures of the vehicle. The police officer told me that it should be reported at the nearest police station where the crime occurred,” he said.
“It happened on the N1. Must I go to the nearest police station where the camera was on the N1?”
This is especially frustrating as he has tracked down the location of the offending vehicle, but has thus far received no assistance from the traffic department.
The Motor Vehicle Recovery Unit, which is responsible for handling matters such as this, has also made no appearance.
“When I went there the second time, the person who takes the general enquiries said I’ll have to go to court to prove my case,” Peter said.
“I have tracked down where this car is, but for my own safety, I do not know what to do.”
Loading ...
