The city has launched an urgent probe into the issuing of hundreds of invalid traffic fines by former beach constables who now work for the Metro Police.
Scores of these municipal law enforcement officers apparently do not have the authority to issue fines for moving violations yet they have done so since last year.
This means the city could again lose hundreds of thousands of rand once these invalid fines have been traced and written off.
The potential loss comes in the wake of a traffic ticket fiasco in July this year when it emerged that an administrative glitch on the part of private company Labat Traffic Solutions had cost the city millions in lost revenue.
Thousands of invalid fines had to be written off by the city.
In the latest fiasco a group of former municipal law enforcement officers who had been transferred from municipalities to the Metro police last year, have apparently been posing as fully fledged traffic officers - and ticketing motorists for moving violations without having the power under the Traffic Act to do so.
Metro Police spokesperson, Kevin Maxwell, confirmed that according to their original appointments which gave them powers under the Criminal Procedure Act, they were entitled only to enforce municipal bylaws.
He was unable to say how many fines and summonses or what amounts were involved but a well-placed insider in the traffic department said a large number of the more than 100 former law enforcement officers had been overstepping their power since last year and the result could run into several hundred thousand of rands worth of invalid and worthless fines.
Bylaws permit the officers to take action only on static motoring offences such as illegal parking or obstruction.
Weekend Argus is in possession of tickets and summonses issued by Big Bay and Atlantis-based officers who have been pulling over motorists and issuing fines for disobeying stop street signs and for driving unlicensed vehicles, amongst other offences.
Maxwell said he was aware of allegations that some of these officers had been acting as fully fledged traffic officers.
He said most of the officers were aware of their limitations and did not enforce "moving violations" but he admitted that it may not be the case across the board.
Asked why the officers who had done conversion courses had not been appointed under the Road and Traffic act and sworn in as traffic officers as a matter of course, Maxwell explained that there was still uncertainty about the future structure of the Metro Police.
Maxwell would not elaborate but the city's safety and security portfolio chairman, JP Smit, admitted that the future of the Metro Police was a political hot potato.
He said Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was still deliberating whether to amalgamate the Metro Police with the South African Police Service.
"This is why the appointment issues are on hold," Smit said.
Smith said the allegations that fines were being issued illegally were a major concern.
He said he would ask Metro Management to investigate the matter and to put measures in place to ensure it did not happen again.
"I will sensitise Metro deputy director Pinki Mathabat, in charge of internal affairs, to probe the issue and take appropriate action," Smith said.
"The city police chief must also immediately circulate a memo to instruct officers to act only within the ambit of their powers," Smith said