The standoff between driving schools and transport minister Fikile Mbalula over the online license booking system has escalated with threats to derail attempts to reopen testing stations on Tuesday.
Mbalula whipped up tensions on Monday when he accused protesting driving school owners who shut down driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) in Gauteng for two weeks of being “drunk” and “anarchists”.
He was speaking during a visit to Akasia driving licence testing centre where protesting driving school owners attempted to storm the venue where Mbalula was addressing the media.
He accused the group of using violence and intimidation to threaten workers with guns and said a directive would be given to Gauteng MEC of transport Jacob Mamabolo to open all DLTCs in the province on Tuesday.
But workers who were threatened and some beaten up allegedly by the protesters have expressed anxiety and apprehension about their safety.
One DLTC worker in Mabopane who spoke on condition of anonymity said she is hoping that her safety won’t be compromised.
“I do not know how the situation is going to turn out but I am hoping for a positive outcome,” she said.
Another employee in Temba, north of Pretoria, told Sowetan that he almost got hurt during the initial protests which saw the centres being shut down by the driving schools association.
0 of 4
He twisted his left foot when members of the association dragged them out of the centre.
“I will not go, I will not compromise my safety I want to be sure first that the driving schools are no longer protesting,” he said.
His colleague at Temba said: “I feel that our safety is not guaranteed as employees, should another violent protest erupt there’s nobody that’s going to protect us.”
Mbalula said he was willing to listen to the concerns raised by the driving school owners but vowed not allow anarchy to prevail. He said the driving school owners were behaving like a mob that was not willing to talk and only keen to attack.
“They cannot say we have a concern, therefore you must scrap the system. No. Who are they? Even those who are protesting outside, I’m willing to talk to them but I can't talk to people who are drunk. Anarchy is the highest state of disorder. There must be no law, people must not be governed? They must come and break doors and say that things are not working because it affects their pockets,” Mbalula said.
One of the protesting driving school owners, Khazba Mashego, hit back and said: “We will never allow them to reopen until they scrap the system. If they open the DLTCs, we will close them down.”
The driving schools are aggrieved about upgrades of the national administration traffic information (Natis) system used to secure slots for renewing and testing for driver's licences. The system upgraded to online booking only for securing slots.
In the new upgrade, driving schools are unable to secure slots for renewal and testing for driver's licences as the platform requires one to create a profile linked with the home affairs population register for verification.
An estimated 1,000 driving schools operate in Gauteng where they would secure slots for their clients for a fee. The owners are therefore opposed to the new system that they say “does not work”.
Mbalula however said this was because the driving schools could no longer make money out of the public by hogging slots for their benefit.
One of the driving school owners in Ekurhuleni who wished not to be named said he does not charge for securing bookings but that his clients gave him “cool drink”.
“I do it as part of courtesy. If they want to give me cool drink, I do take it but I do not ask for it. I know my colleagues do charge their clients. They are charging because they need to use data. Some charge R150 and some up to a R200, it depends on each individual,” he said.
Another driving school owner in Tshwane said he did not charge separately for bookings but that he included this in his learner licence fees. He said he included a R200 cost in his charges which gave him R1,000 a month as he gets about five clients in that period.
“If I have been giving a learner driving lessons for R1,500, the booking fee is included,” he said.
The closure of DLTCs in Gauteng has hampered the government’s effort to address the backlog of people waiting to get their driving licence cards after applying for renewal which stands at 534,807.
Last year, the backlog of driver's licences increased after the machine manufacturing the document failed and had to be fixed. The government issued an extension for those with expired documents to the end of March. The machine has now been fixed.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.