Traffic fines for 16 years after ID stolen

For more than a decade, a Cape Town man has struggled to prove that he is the real Jafta Williams.

Williams lost his ID and driver's licence in Bellville 16 years ago.

At about the same time he was hit with a deluge of traffic fines and faced arrest if he did not pay up. Attempts to get the police or the Department of Home Affairs to help came to nothing.

Then he decided to visit the local traffic department.

"Williams and his wife arrived at the Parow Traffic Department a few weeks ago to inquire about a number of traffic fines and warrants issued in his name," said JP Smith, Cape Town's mayoral committee member for safety and security.

Officers Desre Benadie and Marnus Visser found that many of the offences had been committed in Retreat and Capricorn by someone who drove a Toyota minibus and a Toyota Tazz. The offender turned out to be a taxi driver.

"He insisted that he was Mr Williams and produced an identity document," said Smith.

Eventually the suspect admitted that he had stolen Williams' ID. He was arrested and charged.

Carol McLoughlin, executive director of the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service, said: "By September, we had 2761 cases of identity theft reported, slightly down from last year."