'No more corruption and long queues at driver testing centres'

By Rhodé Marshall
24 January 2008

The Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works says that it is about to launch an Electronic Licence Booking System (ELBS) along with a number of other interventions in order to stop corruption at Drivers Licence Testing Centres and step up service delivery to thousands of hopeful drivers.

“The system is presently being tested at the Lingelethu West testing centre in Khayelitsha and will be tested from 1 February at the Knysna testing centre in the Southern Cape. If the initial response is anything to go buy, we’ll soon be rolling it out to testing centres in the rest of the province,” says Transport and Public Works for the Western Cape Minister Marius Fransman.

It is believed that the success of the system will see a decrease in the waiting period for learners and that the waiting period for driving licences will be cut to between six to eight weeks.

“In most of our investigations into irregularities at Driving Licence Testing Centres – we found that the manual register had been manipulated by corrupt officials to force desperate members of the public to pay for early appointments,” says Fransman.

The electronic licence booking system will have the following principles:

· The applicant has to apply in person at the testing centre where their name will be scheduled electronically


· Only one appointment per applicant is allowed


· No learners or drivers licence test will be allowed without a registered appointment


· Information about the examiner of driving licences who will conduct the test will not be available to the applicant (and vice versa)


· Testing centre managers will be able to draw reports in order to manage and monitor appointment processes


· Block bookings will not be possible for anonymous applicants or driving schools; and


· Scheduled test times and dates will be visible to the Inspector of testing centres, the Compliance of Monitoring Unit of the Department of Transport and Public Works and the Special Investigating Unit – assigned to prevent and investigate fraud and corruption