Everyone hates getting fines and everyone hates paying them –not just in South Africa. In Britain, traffic authorities were forced to write off R11,1 billion in fines, but they have a new plan.
Everyone hates getting fines and everyone hates paying them –not just in South Africa. In Britain traffic authorities were forced to write off R11,1 billion in fines, but they have a new plan.
The National Audit Office in Britain found that in the last year they could not trace about half of the offenders and were forced to write off the fines.
"Apart from the cost, the failure to bring in the remainder could undermine the credibility of financial penalties as a form of punishment," said Auditor-General Sir John Bourn.
Edward Leigh, chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the report suggested that fines were not appropriate in many cases. "Often an offender’s life will be in utter chaos, making it unlikely that they will ever be able to pay a fine, and may simply add to other debts," Leigh said.
He suggested a new plan would be needed. "In these cases, other types of sentence may need to be considered, such as community punishment or curfews.
"Also, where financial penalties are imposed, the courts must have better information on an offender’s means prior to sentence, and be able to keep track of an offender’s whereabouts until full payment," said Leigh.
Would South Africa be wise to follow the suggestion and introduce a community service penalty instead of fines?
You tell us …
