WATCH | PMB driving schools shut down over alleged bribery

Hundreds of learner drivers were left stranded and unable to take their tests on Friday after driving schools in Pietermaritzburg shut down operations, accusing officials at the Mkondeni Testing Centre of corruption, delays and an unfair system that is failing applicants. The protest, led by the Pietermaritzburg Driving Schools Association, follows mounting frustration from instructors and learners, including allegations that some applicants are being asked to pay a R500 bribe to secure bookings. Learners who spoke toThe Witnesssaid they had been arriving at the centre in the early hours of the morning, only to be turned away without assistance.

I have been here since dawn, and I have not been assisted. “We use a lot of money coming from far places. It is unfair that we are turned away without any explanation,” said one learner, who asked not to be named.

Driving school owners gathered at the Mkondeni testing grounds on Friday, raising concerns about deteriorating conditions at the facility since the Covid-19 lockdown. They claim the number of learners allowed to write tests daily has been reduced, while special Saturday bookings for driving licence tests have been scrapped. Chairperson of the association, Sazi Msomi, said the alleged R500 payment demanded from learners amounts to bribery.

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“We are calling it what it is, a bribe. It is unacceptable, and it is disadvantaging our learners, many of whom are already struggling financially,” said Msomi. He said that all driving schools in the city would “switch off their engines” until the matter is addressed.

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