By Neelam Rahim

A report commissioned by the Gauteng Premier’s Office paints an alarming picture of the Gauteng driving licence system, particularly at Driving Licence Testing Centres. The report summary and recommendations were released this week. Civil society organisation OUTA, in reaction, says that government has no excuse for not taking immediate action to root out the corruption.

Speaking to Radio Islam International is Outa Executive Director of the Accountability Division, Advocate Stefanie Fick.

According to Stefanie, the system is broken. Corruption is rife, and they will have to design a system that is simple but also curbs corruption.

She said the most disturbing fact is that there is evidence that people buy their driver’s licenses at around R6500.

“And then we wonder why we have such a high death rate on the roads.”

She added that it is a vicious circle as it all comes back to corruption. People need to buy their driver’s licenses because of the flawed system or the fact that they cannot drive. They can also not use public transport as our trains are a disaster.

The department needs to pull up its socks and eradicate corruption, get the right people in the correct positions and use the money for what it’s intended.

Stefanie tells Radio Islam that corruption wastes an enormous amount of the country’s resources which can be used to fix the system.

According to the report, 13 officials have unexplained additional income and assets, yet no one has been held accountable. Stefanie said. Unfortunately, this is a trend been seen. These are probably politically protected people, but unfortunately, they are unknown.

She stated that on the other side of the coin, whistleblowers are treated like garbage and thrown to the wolves, and investigations have not been started.

Listen to the interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.