Johannesburg – The City of Cape Town’s Traffic Service on Sunday shut down nine of the City’s Driving Licence Testing Centres until further notice due to the threat of the further spread of the coronavirus.
The City’s spokesperson Maxine Bezuidenhout said the affected facilities were Parow, Brackenfell, Hillstar, Bellrail in Bellville, Gallows Hill, Fish Hoek, Kuilsriver, Somerset West and Gordon’s Bay.
“The buildings are being deep-cleaned and operations will resume as soon as this is done, and sufficient staff members are available to resume their duties. The City apologises for any inconvenience these closures may cause,” she said.
The Western Cape is the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and the province expects to hit its peak as soon as this week, according to Premier Alan Winde.
As of Saturday, the Western Cape had 12 277 active cases of Covid-19, with a total of 48 806 confirmed cases and at least 35 156 recoveries. The total number of Covid-19-related deaths in the province stood at 1 373.
Bezuidenhout said these were challenging times and while every effort was being made to avoid the transmission of the virus at the City’s facilities through a range of measures that had been implemented, these were no guarantee against Covid-19 exposure.
She said people whose learner and driving license tests had been impacted by the closures would be contacted by the respective Driving Licence Testing Centres for alternative test dates.
The City was given the go-ahead by the National Transport Department to reopen centres in metropolitan areas on June 1.