People at the Sandton licensing and testing department were allegedly encouraged to pay bribes. (Luba Lesolle/Getty Images)
Officials at the Sandton licensing and testing department in Johannesburg have been accused of corruption, with applicants for new drivers’ licences and renewals alleging that they are made to pay R200 bribes to pass eye examinations after being told they have failed the tests.
One of the applicants, Lerato (not her real name) said that 10 people in a queue she had joined at the department had all failed their eye tests and were then directed to the reception area, where the bribes were solicited.
“When it was my turn I asked why none of the people in front of me passed their eye examination and the official said she had no idea. I went on to do my examination and also was told that I had failed it,” Lerato said.
The official then told her to go to reception, where she was told that she must pay R200 to change her results.
“I approached the people that were in front of me and asked if they had been told the same thing and the other one showed me his certificate after he had paid the R200 and said everyone else had also paid,” Lerato narrated.
Lerato then went back to the official and asked to be tested again, stressing that she had had her eyes examined a month ago for work purposes and had a letter from the optometrist that proved there were no issues with her sight.
“When I walked out with my documents, making my way to the car to get my medical results, I was approached by another official, dressed in JMPD [Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department] uniform who offered to speed up whatever process I was struggling with, for a fee,” Lerato said.
After some back-and-forth with the official, she was finally given her eye certificate without having her medicals checked, or having to pay the R200 bribe.
When approached about Lerato’s allegations, City of Johannesburg licensing director Gershin Chetty said: “I have spoken with the head of Sandton and this matter was not brought to his attention. As the department of licencing we welcome any whistleblowing of alleged corruption that transpired and urge the complainant and witness to come forward to assist with the allegations for the necessary and immediate intervention and action.’’
Chetty insisted that the city was not ignoring corruption.
Lerato’s story is just one of numerous corruption allegations that have dogged licensing departments around South Africa.
In January, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks), working with the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit, arrested 11 licensing officials on charges of fraud and corruption.
The officials, who were rounded up in Ladybrand in the Free State, eLukwatini in Mpumalanga and Rayton in Gauteng, were implicated in the unlawful issuing of driving licences and roadworthiness certificates.
The RTMC’s spokesperson, Simon Zwane, said the arrests followed three years of investigation, which identified examiners who were fraudulently issuing drivers’ licences and roadworthy certificates at various testing stations.
Numerous officials have been arrested for corruption, Chetty said.
“I can confirm only for the licensing section that there are some cases involving alleged corruption and these cases are under investigation at the JMPD internal affairs. As a department we are awaiting the outcomes of these disciplinary cases,” he said.
At the Sandton licensing department, another applicant, Thabani Lushaba, said he had paid R1 500 for his learner driver’s license.
“The corruption here involves driving schools. My driving instructor told me that for a guaranteed pass I have to pay R1 500. When I got to the testing class, we were told to answer anyhow and not press ‘end test’ so that they could fix our answers for us,” Lushaba said.
According to the Gauteng tourism authority website, the cost of getting a learner’s license is far less than the amount that Lushaba was made to pay. The booking fee for a test is R108 and the issue fee is R65.
Driving schools are independent entities and the licencing department is not responsible for them, Chetty said.
“The licensing section cannot control what they do,” he said. “We are pushing [the Gauteng department of roads and transport] to regulate driving schools so that they can be held accountable. All heads at centres are trying to ensure that there is no collusion between our examiners and the driving school instructors.
“CCTV cameras were installed at centres, cashless systems have been implemented, security guards have been placed, and continuous anti-corruption awareness programmes are being rolled out to employees, stricter control on verification process for documents being processed and tight control of [runners] at centres who harass [members of the] public and encourage corruption,” Chetty added.
In March, police and the National Traffic Anti-Corruption Unit arrested three licensing officials and a runner on allegations of fraud and corruption during an operation at the Stutterheim driving licence testing centre.
The RTMC said the arrest followed a tip-off that examiners from the centre were colluding with driving school instructors and runners to issue learner’s licences and driving licences to applicants who had not presented themselves physically to be tested.
An instructor at the Mr Salt driving school in Alexandra gave a breakdown of the various bribe charges.
“For you to obtain your documents in less than a month a learner’s license is R1 500 and driver’s license is R5 000. The R5 000 includes 10 lessons and a guaranteed pass,” the instructor said.
Chetty urged the public to expose the driving schools involved in corruption.