Silly traffic fines

On 28th October I emailed *** regarding a complaint and has ever since followed up everyday because the mayor and his department would not respond to my query. I wonder what is going on there. Below is the email I sent.

Currently it seems as though the City wants to milk us of every cent we have. We are already going through a pandemic that are costing us a lot of Rands in our normal going home salaries. I am already paying taxes for each and everything and I for one have always paid my due payments whether it is renewal of vehicle license, driver’s license or traffic fines that I got in the past because I am a law abiding citizen.

1. Yesterday I parked my car in Plein street in a legal parking and on arrival to my car I found a traffic fine on my window. Why did I get a fine for parking in the city? The fine read that I’ve exceeded the 1hour parking and now has to pay R300! What exactly is this R300 for? The city’s parking marshals are not back and it seems as if the traffic officers are now doing their jobs as well! I will gladly pay for parking when the parking marshals are back but I will not be paying this absurd R300 fine that a traffic officer gave me. There are many vehicles on the road that I see daily where the license has expired, cars parking in yellow lanes, loading zones and outside my workplace even the redline but I don’t see them with fines. There are many cars that can never have passed the road worthy test for the condition they are in. Why are they not being fined and why are they using the roads? On a daily basis I see minibus taxi drivers breaking each and every rule in the book and making as if the road belongs to them! Why can they get away with so much but myself as a law abiding citizen has to pay this pointless and unreasonable fine?

2. Another incident happened in August 2020 where I also parked my vehicle and on return saw a fine for failure to display my number plate. The number plate was as big as a A4 page sitting in my rear window because my car was bumped by another car and at this time the bumper was being repaired.

- I have attached pictures for you to see my number plate was visible as well as the insurance documents for my bumper repair.

- I have attached pictures of where my car was parked when I received a fine for parking.

- I have attached these fines I have received.

- I have attached my driver’s license and license disk (NB. I already renewed my license disk end of August for 2021).

*fine 1 is for invoice *** and fine 2 is ***.

Is the city of Cape Town going through a financial crises and therefor you have to now make up money somehow like SABC with their TV license issues? I am sorry Mr Mayor but I cannot pay these fines. I used to take Golden Arrow bus but public transport is still a big issue because people sit in a bus and taxi without their masks on and I am not willing to take a risk for me and my family’s health.

I trust that you are able to advise me on these matters and that this can be resolved swiftly.