Johannesburg - The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday postponed the case of 16 suspects implicated in allegations of fraud and corruption at the Howick driving licence testing centre in KwaZulu-Natal to August 7, the Road Traffic Management Corporation said.
Spokesperson Simon Zwane said the suspects including licence examiners and learner licence applicants, were arrested by members Road Traffic Management Corporation’s National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit and the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) in a major crackdown on corruption related to the fraudulent issuing of motor vehicle driving licences in March this year.
The arrests followed a long investigation in which officials from the Howick driver learner testing centre were observed engaging in unethical and corrupt conduct at the centre.
“Corruption related to the issuing of driving licence documents is a major concern and is believed to contribute significantly to road accidents in South Africa. A majority of fatal crashes in South Africa are attributed to human error and the ability of the drivers to handle the vehicle plays an important role in this,” said Zwane.
The suspects are out on bail and investigations are continuing and more arrests are expected.