MEDIA STATEMENT

VEHICLE TEST STATION CLEAN-UP IN KZN

A multi-disciplinary task team comprising officials from the KZN Department of Transport, South African Police Services and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions has been set up to investigate allegations of fraud, corruption, and bribery in various Vehicle Test Stations in KwaZulu-Natal, which will result in some stations being shut down.

In the face of allegations of corruption regarding the issuing of roadworthy certificates, KZN MEC for Transport S'bu Ndebele has instructed officials from his department to embark on a clean up on the stations which are mostly privately run. Months of intense and extensive investigations involving sophisticated detective work, and intelligence gathering, will shortly result in various centres being closed.

"The legislation dealing with roadworthy certificates has been amended, and operating standards tightened to close all the loopholes which owners so readily rely upon to escape the full might of the law," Ndebele said today. "This corruption affects not only lives on the road but also the credibility of the entire industry," Ndebele added.

Recently, the KZN Department of Transport, under the leadership of MEC Ndebele has wielded great success towards ensuring proper regulation and control of the vehicle testing industry in the province:

• Gap Testing and Roadworthy CC Test Station was closed down in December 2002, with two vehicle examiners from the said station being suspended.

• Four other vehicle test stations were closed down and fourteen vehicle examiners were suspended and/or had their registration as vehicle examiners cancelled.

• The SABS, upon request from the Department conducted an audit of all vehicle test stations in KZN.

• All 72 Test Stations have been requested to draw-up and maintain Quality Assurance manuals that ensure the proper running and control of a testing station in terms of relevant Road Traffic Legislation.

• We are in the process of drawing up and revising agreements that all test stations will be subject to by proclamation to ensure absolute compliance with all aspects of pertinent Road Traffic Legislation.

• Twelve new applications to open up test stations in the province were turned down based on pre-determined criteria set by the Department (previously no such criteria existed) such as vehicle population, proximity to other test stations and so on as well as to prevent unhealthy escalation of this industry.

• A new Provincial Vehicle Testing Inspectorate is currently being established to enforce the regulation and control of this industry.

• Owing to the in-roads made by the KZN Transport Department towards the eradication of corruption in the vehicle test station industry, KZN has been chosen as a pilot best practice model by the National Department of Transport. KZN Officials were also elected by the National Vehicle Technical Committee to facilitate the review of national legislation as well as other relevant issues pertaining to the vehicle testing industry.

This industry consists of 72 Testing Stations in KZN comprising of 54 private and 18 public stations. The function of vehicle testing was devolved to the said 54 private stations prior to 1994 without a formal agreement being entered into with the Department, albeit that such stations in fact derive an income for performing services on behalf of the Department, and furthermore also bearing in mind that vehicle testing functions are performed in terms of the National Road Traffic Act 1996 (Act 93 of 1996).

As a result of the above and in the absence of a clearly documented agreement, private vehicle test stations were largely uncontrolled and poorly regulated. It was found that 80% of the private vehicle test stations were last audited by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) between twelve and eighteen months prior to August 2002. Owing to the latter, this industry has become highly competitive with the focus purely on profit making and not quality of vehicle testing.

In order to increase their turnover the majority of stations were in fact submitting/selling Certificates of Roadworthiness (CRW's) without physically testing the motor vehicles concerned. Hence, the large number of un-roadworthy vehicles on our roads, especially passenger carrying vehicles which are subject to annual certification of roadworthiness and where it has been found that owners/operators would rather purchase a CRW for under R500-00 from a corrupt test station rather than spend more money ensuring that their vehicles are roadworthy.

GAP TESTING AND ROADWORTHY CC Test Station in Durban was successfully stopped from operating in December 2002. This was a long and arduous process, which required intense investigations followed by a lengthy litigation process. In this instance as per case no. 1961/02 heard in the Natal Provincial Division of the High Court of South Africa, the Honourable Judge Presiding, Hurt J handed down judgment in favour of the Department on 03/12/2002, wherein he dismissed the application made by the applicants being two motor vehicle examiners and GAP TESTING AND ROADWORTHY CC, with costs. This case has been hailed as a landmark case in the battle to rid the country of corruption at vehicle testing stations that contribute largely to the carnage on our roads and as well as to curb the endemic proportions of white collar crimes rampant in this industry.

In about August 2002, a vehicle which was completely un-roadworthy, collided with three road runners in the Pinetown area, of which two were killed and one seriously injured. This particular vehicle obtained a Certificate of Roadworthiness (CRW) from GAP TESTING AND ROADWORTHY CC.

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