If you bought your driving licence, you might have to face some tough questions and end up with no licence and a criminal record.
The Department of Transport has slammed the practice of unscrupulous driving school instructors in KwaZulu-Natal soliciting bribes from customers to “make a plan on the inside” for them to pass their driver’s licence tests.
KZN Department of Transport spokesman Kwanele Ncalane said the department was investigating cases of bribery and had suspended several inspectors and municipal supervisors who were responsible for testing stations. He said the department had cancelled more than 100 licences which were fraudulently obtained at its Mandini testing station.
He said the department had met owners of driving schools and had “sharply raised the issue of corruption in obtaining driver’s licences as a concern for the department”.
“It contributes to lawlessness and fatalities on the roads. We appeal to all schools and applicants for learner’s and driver’s licenses not to engage any middle man and to refrain from any corrupt activities in acquiring drivers licences,” Ncalane said.
Lisa van Zyl, Inner West Driving School Association chairwoman, which represents 64 schools in the Highway area, said unscrupulous instructors had told learners they would fail unless they paid up to R1 500.
“It’s very sad it’s happening because it’s not right. If you can drive you should get your licence and if you don’t pass you should fail,” Van Zyl said.
“The quality of drivers on the roads is deteriorating. I have people who have just got their driver’s licence calling me and asking for a few lessons. If you are a member and you get involved in anything like that you will be out of the association,” Van Zyl said.
Des Jenkins Driving School owner Mark White said: “I have never been asked for a bribe and I have never paid a bribe. The driving schools get caught up in it and I don’t think the driving schools always give the money (to the tester). The problem the driving schools are having now is, even if they have a good student who can drive, they can’t get her to pass without paying,” White said.
“The driving schools who do pay don’t teach them properly. They have 20 lessons but still can’t drive because they know they are going to pay,” White said.
Four learner drivers, who spoke to The Independent on Saturday on condition of anonymity, went to different driving schools and all claimed that instructors advised them to pay road “insurance” or a sum for “no eyes” to guarantee a pass because it was necessary to beat the system. One learner driver said she was wracked with guilt after paying the bribe and owned up at the Rossburgh testing station.
Another learner driver, who did the test at Rossburgh and failed, alleged she had failed because she refused to pay “insurance”.
“The people at the driving school give an impression that the system is too hard and say that you are going to fail. They say they can organise with some insurance. I thought the inspector would ask for a bribe but it’s the driving school that says if you give us a little extra we will make contact with the person on the inside and we will make sure they overlook some things. Over and over they say the system is too hard.
“They say ‘I can see you can drive but the system is too hard so why don’t you pay the insurance?’
“They wanted a pathetic R200 but I know people who have been asked for R1 000 to R2 000 payment,” she said.
“The scheme is causing people to end up neurotically nervous. It holds us all to ransom.”
Another learner has been for her licence seven times at different testing stations, including Winkelspruit, and made her last attempt at Rossburgh. She says she failed because she refused to pay the bribe.
“I did everything right and went out on the road and came back and he said I did not do a lot of observations. My instructor said it’s because I did not pay the bribe,” she said.
“I have not given up. It’s just that I have the problem that I don’t want to give them the money because it’s not right and it’s not Godly. But it seems like it’s one of their profits and processes and we have to do it,” she said.
One of the driving school owners whose instructor asked for a bribe said he had dismissed him in January when it was brought to his attention.
“This is an ongoing thing… the applicant is to be blamed… If there’s no giver there wouldn’t be a taker,” he said. - Independent on Saturday