Cape Talk, Friday evening

It means there's something wrong. If the three correspond, but there is still suspicion, then they go to the engine number and they do all of those activities to make sure that they deal with the issue at hand. Give me a sense of the scale of the problem in terms of vehicle-related crime at our borders. You see, Bongani, this is one of the most unfortunate challenges that we are sitting with because it is actually also involving issues of life and death. Practically speaking, there are actually single

That are operating in South Africa, linking into other countries in the continent. In certain instances, literally, cars actually get ordered. And when they get ordered out there, whether it's in Zambia or in DRC or wherever in the continent or in Mozambique, so they basically order the car in terms of the description. And then the syndicates will then come and scout for the car inside and ultimately go and find it. And then they hijack people. Sometimes people actually get to lose their lives and all of that.

A very serious problem and it is widespread. So that is the first part. The second part, which is the unfortunate part, is instances where a person has a vehicle in the country. It is a financed vehicle, but they realize they can't be able to pay it anymore. And they themselves actually get the car out of the country and then from there they go sell it that site, fly back into the country and then report it as stolen. And obviously the insurance pays out and then they are clear out of the system. So that is basically

The kind of complexity in the entire process. Yeah. What? I mean, sorry, I'm just stunned at that at that particular angle. I mean, how often does that kind of thing happen? So, what basically happens in this instance? You see, the discussion needs a bit of time, you know, to be able to unpack the issues. But because we don't have time, let me put it this way: Bongani, and this is a very fundamental issue. That is one of the reasons why there is.

Insurance companies. That is why the financiers, meaning the banks and all of that, had to partner with us in this journey because they are losing a lot of money. And that the example I gave you is just somebody who bought a car normally. But there are even those that go to rental company, rent vehicles, and they rent vehicles with obviously fraudulent documents. You go rent a very expensive vehicle. You say, by tomorrow, I'll bring it. And then they cross the border, go sell it that side, come back home, report it stolen. And then the rental.

Company is at a loss. So it is a very complicated syndicated activity. But we are, with this system, we are putting all measures in place to make sure that we deal with all of these activities. And the intention is to dismantle the syndicate. And that is why we work together with the Hawks. As soon as we pick up, we arrest the fraudsters who actually are the ones who come to the port and we go back into the people behind them. And that is why the Hawks is actually assisting to dismantle.

The syndicates. I suppose one measure of success is going to be the number of arrests, successful prosecutions, and that's going to give us a sense of whether or not you're winning against these criminal networks. Indeed, Bongani, that is why, even when we were launching the system, we said the issue is not just to assess us on the basis of the numbers of vehicles. I mean, just in the six months of operating the system, we have been able to stop 83 vehicles to the value of 46.