MEDIA STATEMENT

SENIOR TRAFFIC OFFICER REARRESTED

Andries De Lange (44) a senior traffic officer who was employed at the Rossburgh Testing Centre in Durban has been rearrested.

De Lange who resides on the Bluff in Durban was rearrested yesterday and appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court this morning on charges of intimidation, defeating the ends of justice and interfering with witnesses. He will remain in custody for seven days pending the outcome of investigations.

De Lange, Jabu Sibongile Buthelezi (35), Lance Cheddy (36) and Annette Hicken (35) appeared in the Durban Magistrates Court during December last year on charges of corruption, fraud and bribery relating to the issue of learner’s licences. They were all released on bail with strict bail conditions.

Hicken and Buthelezi were employed as clerks at Rossburgh. Cheddy was an employee of Jackson's Driving School based in Durban. They have all since been suspended from duty and Hicken has subsequently been dismissed. The other departmental inquiries are still to be finalised and the criminal case is still continuing.

KZN MEC for Transport, Safety and Security Mr. Bheki Cele has warned that more arrests were imminent: "Any kind of corruption will not be tolerated. While those guilty parties have enriched themselves, little thought had been given to their behaviour which will indeed contribute to the spiraling deaths on our roads. Just one fraudulent learner's or driving licence can cause havoc for public safety. We will not stop our probe to see how far rooted this corruption is. We will not rest until we clean up any allegation of fraud and corruption. For the sake of road safety and good governance, our zealousness to continue in our probe will persist," Cele said.

These arrests in December 2003 formed part of an ongoing probe and a raid by members of the SAPS and KZN Transport Department officials on 2 December 2003 on the Rossburgh Testing Grounds, south of Durban following allegations of corruption, fraud and bribery relating to the issue of learner's licences. Hicken was arrested on the premises and the other three suspects later handed themselves over to police.

The early morning swoop on the testing ground offices in December last year followed an intensive and thorough forensic audit into several learner drivers' licences issued by this centre. This involved several licences coming under the scrutiny of specialised forensic experts who evaluated each of the licences, and other documents, needed to obtain the licences.

The result was that several documents were found to have been tampered with - some at the preliminary level when examinations were written. A large number of applicants who were suspected to have fraudulently obtained their learners licences were interviewed and many of them confirmed that they had paid to obtain the learners licences.

The investigation found that applicants were either given crib notes; pre-marked answer sheets; and some were not even present in the classes when they supposedly wrote their examinations. In some cases the examiner had given the answers orally in the class room.

Investigations into this matter as well as into other vehicle and licensing test centres around the province are continuing and more arrests were expected soon.

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