60% fail driver's licence test
2007-07-17 23:25
Cape Town - More than 60% of all South Africans who applied for driver's licences in the past two years failed the test.
That's the gist of a written reply from Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe to a question by Democratic Alliance MP Stuart Farrow.
Farrow wanted to know if Radebe was aware of the unacceptably high driver's licence failure rate and what his department was doing to tackle the problem.
Radebe said that from July 2005 to last month, 1.5 million applications for driver's licences had been received and only 591 624 had been issued.
That meant a national pass rate of 39.9%.
It appears from his reply that the Free State fared the worst with 31.23%, followed by the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape with just more than 33% each.
The pass rate in the Western Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal was just above 35%. Gauteng fared best with 46.58%.
Radebe said the high failure rate could be attributed to people not preparing adequately for the tests.
"Applicants are not compelled to use driving schools, and in some instances driving schools don't prepare candidates properly for the tests," he said.
Radebe assured the public that the department took the inspection of testing centres seriously.
'We're talking about bribery'
Gary Ronald of the Automobile Association said the AA was swamped by complaints from members who were at their wit's end because their children repeatedly failed the driver's licence tests.
Ronald said corruption could play a major role.
"The chances are good that applicants won't pass the test unless money passes under the table. We're talking about bribery."
Ronald said someone who'd failed his first driver's licence test should be accommodated.
"If someone has failed once, he should be put on a priority bookings list so that he can repeat the test as soon as possible.
"Systems should be designed to eliminate corruption even if it means installing cameras in the cars (used for tests)."