Hundreds of thousands of foreign national vehicle owners unaccounted for
· Citizen
The Department of Home Affairs has revealed that hundreds of thousands of vehicle permits given to foreign nationals are irregular.
The data relates to the issuing of Traffic Register Numbers (TRNs) used by foreign nationals to process vehicle-related documentation.
Visit esporist.com for more information.
TRN numbers are given to foreign nationals who do not have South African ID numbers, as well as foreign “businesses, organisations and non-legal entities” who need to register on the eNatis System.
“The TRN allows non-South African citizens or entities to register or licence a motor vehicle, apply for a driving licence and conduct transactions on the eNatis system,” stated Home Affairs forensic investigator Maria Mnisi.
These include churches, recreational organisations and “one-man businesses”, the department explained.
TRNs duplicated en masse
Home Affairs officials appeared before their portfolio committee on Friday, where they gave several presentations related to foreign nationals and transportation.
The department commissioned an investigation after it discovered that 973 TRNs were issued from a small office in the Northern Cape in the space of four months in 2019.
The town in which the implicated office is located only has 12 000 residents, while only 130 TRNs were issued from the province’s largest office during the same time frame.
Home Affairs found that foreign nationals were applying for TRNs in the Northern Cape and, within an hour, had applied for duplicates in Cape Town.
“The majority of applicants were residents using the same address. Most concerning is that eNatis is able to capture applications with no ID information, and it does not have mechanisms to verify documents submitted,” stated Mnisi.
Only a fraction traceable
Home Affairs’ investigations cross-referenced over a million TRNs issued by the Road Traffic Management Corporation between January 2000 and July 2023.
All 1 072 258 TRNs were checked against Home Affairs’ visa adjudications system (VAS), national immigration identification system (NIIS), electronic movement control system (eMCS) and movement control system (MCS).
Only 29 653 TRN recipients – 2.7% – matched against the NIIS, while 747 350 were unmatched when checked against the VAS.
The eMCS and MCS legal records capture fingerprint and biometric data, with only 1.6% and 48% of TRN recipients present on the respective databases.
Of the 29 653 TRN recipients with files on the NIIS, only a fraction contained accurate information.
“Only 1 677 were legal. The rest, they provided false information to the Department of Transport (DoT) and we could not verify them on our system with the permit numbers they provided.”
Luxury vehicle purchases
TRN holders used these numbers when purchasing luxury vehicles, with the sales able to be cross-referenced against DoT data.
“Foreign nationals allegedly used fraudulently obtained TRNs to acquire luxury vehicles, despite having visa applications rejected under different categories.
“This highlights the importance of collaboration between the two departments to detect fraud and strengthen verification processes,” stated Mnisi.
Among the luxury purchases were 40 “elite supercars” and 327 Porsches.
Gauteng led the way with the 244 Porsches purchased with TRNs, as well as six Bentleys, four Lamborghinis, five Ferraris and a McLaren.
“The investigation project was handed over to the Special Investigating Unit for further handling and consider recovering the assets that were fraudulently acquired through the use of TRNs,” Mnisi concluded.