MEDIA STATEMENT

KZN TRANSPORT MEC WELCOMES JAIL SENTENCE FOR FRAUD

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Mr S’bu Ndebele has commended a Durban Regional Court Magistrate for the three year prison sentence imposed on Noreen Desiree De Gee yesterday for her involvement in the issuing of fraudulent learner’s licences.

Ndebele encouraged other judicial officers to follow the court’s example and said that these type of sentences would help send a loud and clear message to fraudsters.

"When I took over the provincial transport portfolio in 1994, I vowed to clamp down on fraud and corruption relating to vehicle and driving licence test centres. To date, people ranging from clerks to test station owners, traffic officers and owners of driving schools have been arrested on charges relating to fraud, corruption, bribery, and conspiracy to commit a crime," Ndebele said. 

On 21 January 2003, Noreen Desiree De Gee (40) of Rosehill, an employee of the Goble Road (Windsor Park) Road Traffic Inspectorate, confessed to receiving money to assist applicants to cheat in the learner’s licence exams. De Gee subsequently pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud in that she gave those sitting for the exam question books with the answers or filled them in for them herself. According to the charge sheet, she had acted in cahoots with driving school owners and instructors who charged between R250 and R450 for this. She was sentenced yesterday to three years imprisonment without the option of a fine.

Also during January this year, two applicants were tested for an oral learner’s licence test at the Ixopo Municipality in the KZN Midlands on the grounds that they had made a sworn statement to the effect that they cannot read or write and were uneducated. It was later found out that both these applicants were matriculated, in fact one was Head of Department at a school in Ixopo. Both applicants were also members of the immediate family of one of the Learner’s Licence Examiners at Ixopo Municipality. A case of fraud is currently being investigated by the SAPS with regard to this matter.

On 16 July 2002, one hundred and seventy four (174) driving licences issued by the Ixopo Municipality were cancelled by the KZN Department of Transport after it was found that these licences were fraudulently issued.

We, therefore, call on all members of staff and the public who may have information on licence fraud to come forward.

Finally, I would like to remind all drivers who have not yet converted their driving licences to the new credit card format to do so immediately or face the consequences. Test Stations around the province have reported to be extremely quiet and I want to urge drivers not to leave this process to the last minute in order to prevent the chaos that we had at the end of February.

back