Durban - THE shortage of staff at Pinetown and Rossburgh licensing and testing centres would be addressed as “a matter of urgency”, Transport MEC Bheki Ntuli vowed yesterday after a visit.
He witnessed the backlog caused by Covid-19 and the staff shortage.
“The building is small. Rossburgh has many surrounding townships it is servicing and there needs to be an extension to the building. Some of the people being serviced said they had arrived at 6am while some said they had arrived the previous night.
“This tells me we need to work harder to service people. The team there is working hard to improve the service but there is a high rate of staff shortage,” he said.
The gradual population increase around these centres required that something be done.
Ntuli also joined law enforcement at the Mariannhill toll plaza at a roadblock targeting heavy vehicles.
This traffic operation focused on driver documentation, overloading, excessive speeding, drinking and driving, seatbelts, vehicle and driver fitness and roadworthiness.
“Road incidents have been horrific in KwaZulu-Natal and most of them involved trucks. This roadblock is a start. We want to concentrate on the whole province, making sure that heavy vehicles are complying.”
Law enforcement officers stopped 87 vehicles and charged five unlicensed heavy vehicles.
“We hope this will encourage people using trucks to make sure they are compliant and roadworthy,” he said.
Ntuli realised there was corruption involved when it came to unroadworthy trucks being on the province’s roads and said there would be an investigation into this.
Today, a memorial service would be held in Nongoma for the 16 people who died in an crash on the R34 between Melmoth and Ulundi in northern KwaZulu-Natal last week when a minibus taxi collided head-on with a truck and caught alight.
Daily News