A warrant is a contempt of court given to you when you have not paid your outstanding traffic infringements, if no warrants have been issued, officers may still issue you with a summons with three notices. You are then given a court date with a minimum of two weeks in the future, not counting Sundays or public holidays. If you then fail to appear, you’re in contempt of court and a warrant will be issued. City of Cape Town served nearly 10 000 warrants valued at R16m since February 2019. 

What happens if you are stopped at a roadblock with a contempt of court on your name?

There has been a big increase of motorists with outstanding warrants of arrests for unpaid traffic-related fines, leaving a backlog of warrants for traffic offences which is the natural process that takes place to keep drivers accountable to drive better on the roads and if they should get a traffic fine, to pay it timeously.

If you have fines that have not been paid within the required timeframe before the relevant court date which will be stipulated on the fine if you receive it personally, or alternatively you will receive a summons by post if you were sent a speeding fine, and you do not appear on the scheduled court date, you are in contempt of court and a warrant is served for your arrest. The execution thereof will become a possibility no less than 14 days after summons to appear in court has been served.

You do not want to end up in this scenario where you are stuck at a roadblock and have outstanding infringements on your name, or more importantly a warrant out for your arrest due to contempt of court because, in this case, at a roadblock, you will be locked up until a new court date is scheduled for you to appear where you will be held accountable for your contempt of court and your traffic violation.

If you want to prevent yourself from being placed in this position, you can contact SA Fines and we can help you settle your fines before the court date. Violated your court date already? We can get your warrants cleared in no time. Prevention is better than cure!