A frustrated motorist has described how he was unable to renew his driver’s license due to a violent protest by driving school owners, which has subsequently led to the closure of licensing centers in Gauteng. For the safety of workers and infrastructure, the city of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni chose to close several centers after a number of permitting offices were destroyed, staff were intimidated and visitors were attacked. https://twitter.com/City_Ekurhuleni/status/1498994187143942149 The protest, which is in its second week, was sparked by the introduction of the new online booking system, which the driving school owners said was unusable. But Ekurhuleni’s business analyst…
A frustrated motorist has described how he was unable to renew his driver’s license due to a violent protest by driving school owners, which has subsequently led to the closure of licensing centers in Gauteng.
For the safety of workers and infrastructure, the city of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni chose to close several centers after a number of permitting offices were destroyed, staff were intimidated and visitors were attacked.
Protest update from the National Driving School Association ️
The National Driving School Association protest has resulted in significant service disruption at all driver’s license testing centers in #Ekurhuleni and all other municipalities in Gauteng . province pic.twitter.com/xrnmmBItV7— CITY EKURHULENI (@City_Ekurhuleni) March 2, 2022
The protest, which is entering its second week, was sparked by the introduction of the new online booking system, which the driving school owners said was unusable.
But Ekurhuleni business analyst James Durieux said he used the system to make an appointment to renew his driver’s license and was allocated a spot for Monday, but was turned down at the local office because of the protest.
“I had no problem with the online system. In fact, it is the driving school owners who prevented me from getting this service. It’s insane. We as law-abiding The throwdowntvs are held as ransom by the owners of driving schools. I just want to get my driver’s license and follow the law,” he said.
Durieux, 55, of Edenvale on the East Rand, said he was going again on Wednesday, but after standing in line for nearly an hour, they were told the offices were closed due to the protest.
He repeated the process on Thursday and now fears his appointment window, which is valid for ten days, will expire unused next Friday.
What bothered Durieux the most is that there was no phone number to call and check if the offices are still closed or not.
“At the very least, they can send emails letting us know about the disruption of services so we don’t have to wait there to hear that they’re closed. What I also don’t understand is how the protesters can disrupt services and intimidate people when there are private guards to control access. Ekurhuleni metro police offices are nearby, but hooligans can do whatever they want,” he said.
Unions call for protection of members
In Soshanguve, protesting driving school owners surrounded the local licensing center and refused to let anyone in, while the SA Municipal Workers Union called for the protection of their members.
The union said it was alarmed by the attack on municipal workers by community members and owners of driving schools in Shoshanguve.
“In recent days, workers have been denied access to their offices by driving school staff in and around Tshwane. In some cases, workers were taken from their offices and some lost their belongings,” said Mpho Tladinyane, the union’s regional secretary in Tshwane.
He said they were hopeful that the meeting scheduled for Monday between the Ministry of Transport and the National Driving School Association of South Africa (NDSASA) will end the standoff.
“In the meantime, SAMWU is calling on the Ministry of Transport and the Driving School Association to agree on a dual system of both walk-ins and online to cater to different constituencies,” Tladinyane said.
The Tshwane subway is in the process of filing for a judicial injunction against the protesting NDSASA members to prevent them from disrupting operations.
“We do not tolerate lawlessness in Tshwane. Protesting driving schools are not allowed to hold customers for ransom,” said Dikeledi Selowa, Tshwane MMC for Roads and Transport City of Tshwane.
System ‘threatens livelihoods’
Earlier this week, driving school owners said: The The throwdowntv that their complaint about the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) new online licensing reservation system was sparked by fears that the system would bankrupt them and ultimately destroy the entire industry.
The National Driving School Association of South Africa (NDSASA) pledged to fight tooth and nail against full implementation of the system, even if it meant closing all licensing centers in Gauteng to protect their business interests.
Spokesperson Moss Letsholo said they were not criminals and rejected criticism that they held the public at ransom to protect their private business interests.
“It is true that the system is taking over our company. Everyone would be hurt; we accept. We have every right to be hurt. We do not hold a ransom to protect our interests. We run a business and government should create, not take away, an enabling environment for small businesses,” he said.
Letsholo explained that as driving school owners, their business was supported by being able to make bookings on behalf of clients who were unable to do so themselves for various reasons.
He said their other revenue stream consisted of taking candidates through the classroom to prepare them for tests and then making them pay to use their vehicles for the driver’s license test.
“The online system takes all this away from us because RTMC already has vehicles for this. Next in the pipeline is the use of a driving simulator that every driving school should have. How many driving schools can afford a simulator?” said Letsholo.
He said he was not against innovation, but that the RTMC has not consulted the public and stakeholders such as driving schools about the rollout of the system.
Delete the system and run a trial phase
Letsholo said their suggestion to break the deadlock was to scrap the system and reintroduce a manual booking system while the system is still being tested.
“Get the system back on the test server so that we, the public, can test it and play with it, then provide input before it rolls out,” he said.
Boksburg driving school owner Danny Geers said all they asked for was a fair and user-friendly system, as well as maintaining the manual walk-in service for those without access to online facilities.