Gauteng’s 153 roadworthy centres will be audited over the next two years amid fears of widespread fraud and corruption, provincial ministers said on Tuesday.
”What is working will be enhanced. What is not working will be modified. Where there are gaps and weaknesses, these will be rectified,” Gauteng transport, roads and works minister Ignatius Jacobs told reporters in Johannesburg.
The move follows Talk Radio 702’s exposure earlier this year of fraud and corruption at the privately owned Wynberg testing station.
A testing-station employee has since been dismissed, said community safety minister Firoz Cachalia.
An official of the inspectorate responsible for monitoring testing stations resigned after being found guilty — by an internal disciplinary inquiry — of fraud and extortion, Cachalia said.
The case against a second inspector is still pending. Three were found not guilty.
The inquiry’s presiding officer had yet to determine a suitable sanction against the guilty inspector. The evidence against him will also be passed on to the police for criminal investigation, said Cachalia.
It is the police’s responsibility to decide whether any criminal action will be taken against the two men who blew the whistle on officials taking bribes to turn a blind eye to the issuing of fraudulent roadworthy certificates at Wynberg.
”It was positive that they came forward,” said Cachalia.
One of the province’s 127 privately owned roadworthy centres, Wynberg testing station was found to comply with the legislated standards and continues operating, he said.
Gauteng also has 26 state-run vehicle-testing centres and 39 state-run driver’s licence centres.
Cachalia does not believe that fraud and corruption are confined to Wynberg.
He views the crimes as a symptom of problems with the system, which is open to exploitation by, in the main, organised criminal syndicates involved in hijackings.
The audit — of both the state and private stations — will probably start with the reconstituting of the inspectorate to strengthen its capacity, he said. — Sapa