Unhelpful staff Grabouw Municipal Court

In November 2021 I received a fine on the N2 just outside of Grabouw. I accepted the fact that I was wrong & never gave the traffic officer any problems & left on my merry way to Cape Town. I recently purchased a vehicle & was told I can’t get my registration disc as there was an outstanding fine against my name. I did enquiries & was directed to the Grabouw Municipal Court. I called the Municipal Court on Friday 15 July 2022 to enquire about the fine. The lady on the other end informed me that I had a warrant out against me for not failing to pay the fine & not appearing in court. I asked her how am supposed to know that I had to appear in court if I was not issued with a summons. She then informed me that the fine that the officer issued me was a summons. I told her this was never explained to me as the fine looked like a till slip. She replied that's not her problem I should've paid the fine or been in court. I asked her if they don't send out a courtesy notification to inform people that they need to appear in court & she replied "dit werk nie so in Grabouw nie, jy het jou hof datum op jou boete gekry & ons stuur nie vir jou boodskappe nie". I asked her for the prosecutors number to which she replied, 'hy gaan jou terug verwys na ons toe want hy het nie tyd om met jou te onderhandel nie". I then told her that the CoCT works very diferently in that they will send you a notice to say that you have received a summons or a notification & not to forget to pay it & she replied " die is nie CoCT nie'. I asked to speak to her supervisor & was put through to the supervisor, who was by now obviously prepped about what had transpired as I had to wait quite a while before she answered the phone. I explained the situation to the supervisor & was again told that "die is nie Kaapstad nie, ons stuur nie vir mense boodskape nie". I asked for the prosecutors number & was again told that he will not deal with me & that I need to deal with that office & pay the fine & the warrant. I told her that I can’t even make out anything on the fine that was issued as the fine had faded to an extent that I couldn't see a date or where & how payments should be made & if they can’t help me & I want to speak to the prosecutor regarding the warrant. She then replied she can’t give the prosecutors number as he is very busy & doesn't have time to deal with me or other members of the public. She said that I must pay the fine & the warrant & I told her how must I know when the court date was if I can’t see anything on the fine or if I was not sent a message stating that I need to make arrangements to pay the fine. She replied "jou naam was uitgeroep in die hof & jy was nie daar nie" I asked her if the traffic officer that issued me with the fine was in court on the day & she replied "jou naam was uitgeroep in die hof & jy was nie daar nie so dus hoekom ons n laasbrief uitgeryk het". I asked for the prosecutors number again & she reluctantly gave me the office number. When I called the prosecutor, a minute after hanging up with the revenue office, the phone rang for a while & a gentleman answered presenting himself as the prosecutor, I`m not event sure if it was the prosecutor that I was speaking to, I tried to explain my situation to him & he abruptly stopped me stating that he was in a meeting. I asked if he could call me back on my number & he abruptly told me "nee jy moet self terug bel". I have since called the prosecutors office on 15 occasion without anyone picking up the phone. I understand I was wrong & have no problem paying the fine & the warrant but the manner in which I was treated on the phone & what I was told how Grabouw Municipal Court operates speaks volumes & leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. The service was so pathetic that I think I would`ve been locked up if I had gone there & tried to pay the fine & warrant. I understand that lots of municipalities are cash strapped & are reliant on any form of income but In my opinion they are exploiting people from out of town with this practice. To crown it all off I wasn`t even informed by Grabouw Municipal Court that a warrant had been issued. There is no indication on payfine, easypay or any of the other sites indicating that I had an outstanding fine. If I had not purchased a new vehicle I would`ve been none the wiser & would probably have been locked up if I had to be travelling through that area & been pulled over by a traffic officer. A simple SMS as a courtesy to say don`t forget to pay your fine is not too much to ask. There are lots of other municipalities that are doing it (some much smaller than Gragouw). The warrant is still pending & I still don't have any reference details (fine number) of where & how to pay