The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport has cancelled the registration certificates of two private vehicle testing stations in Soweto and Pretoria due to alleged fraudulent and corrupt practices.
An interdepartmental investigation into the two roadworthy testing centres found gross violations of the National Road Traffic Act and the codes of practice regulating private vehicle testing stations through the issuing of roadworthy certificates to vehicles that had not even been tested.
“Vehicles that are not roadworthy contribute to the high accident rates and fatalities on our roads,” said Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Ismail Vadi. “Testing stations that issue fraudulent roadworthy certificates are complicit in this regard.”
According to media liaison officer Melitah Madiba, the two centres were shut down following an investigation that was triggered by several arrests of employees at both centres last year.
At the Innovative Roadworthy Testing Station in Soweto, three vehicle examiners and a cashier were arrested in October 2017, while a management representative and three examiners were arrested in November last year at the Hercules Roadworthy Centre in Pretoria.
