Seabata Mahao
Road Fund has partnered with the Lesotho Mounted Police Services (LMPS), Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Judiciary through the Magistrates Court, as a way to enhance the justice system and fight traffic corruption, an initiative which was unveiled this week.
This comes after Road Fund noticed a need to improve the Spot-Fine initiative as it seemed that motorists were opting to pay bribes instead of paying their dues for flouting highway codes. This initiative is expected to solve traffic offence cases using the latest technology where the relevant departments will be able to share as well as pass their work accordingly.
Speaking at the event launch in Maseru this week, the Central Chief Magistrate ‘Matankiso Nthunya, indicated that before the introduction of the system, the case dockets had a habit of disappearing during the process of case investigation as they went through many stages from the arresting officer, officer in charge, prosecutors to the magistrate and to the accounts office.
She said that the new system would nip the occurrence of lost dockets in the bud and reduce the issue of brides being paid by motorists to traffic police, adding that the system is an attempt to uproot the human element from the traffic justice system, in order to retain the public trust in the Lesotho judiciary.
“The Automated Traffic Justice System is synchronised such that it will cause the accountability to all stake-holders involved in the process. It is meant to curb the backlog of traffic related offences,†Nthunya said.
The Automated Traffic Justice System is going to ensure that all traffic-related cases are digitalised throughout the entire investigation to prosecution process until it reaches the final stage of judgement where the suspect will have to pay the full amount as per the judgement.
On the other hand, the Commissioner of Police (COMPOL) Holomo Molibeli mentioned that, the system is a breakthrough that LMPS needed in doing their daily duty as there will be fair justice for every road user.
He lauded Road Fund for continued support to the police saying that there will be light at the end of the tunnel in prosecuting traffic offences.
While presenting the theoretical phase of the system, Senior Inspector Moeketsi Mahetlane stated that the system has been updated with all the traffic laws and there is a physical and cloud based storage for the system’s data.
“If the traffic offender fails to honour the Spot-Fine within seven days, the arresting officer will create a docket then proceed to the magistrate court,†Mahetlane said.
The Automated Traffic Justice System has been funded by Road Fund from the initiative of the Spot-Fines to this module, with the LMPS, DPP and Judiciary as direct beneficiaries while Engidata Company will be overseeing the system.
The DPP Advocate Hlalefang Motinyane, stated that the system is going to help relevant stakeholders and make it easy for everyone to abide by the rules, thus ensuring success in the prosecution of traffic offence cases.
