Pretoria - Driving school operators say they are happy with the resumption of services at licence testing centres after they signed an interim agreement with the Gauteng Department of Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure, as well as the Roads Traffic Management Corporation.
Operations at centres came to a halt across the province earlier this month as driving schools operators took to the streets to voice their frustrations with the online booking system that displaced them from their ability to earn.
They said the system could not allow them to make bookings for their clients, and it also subjected the old and the poor to a digital divide as they did not have access to smart devices, while some could not afford data costs.
MEC Jacob Mamabolo and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula intervened and begged them to cease disruptive demonstrations and come to the negotiations table.
Lazarus Mokwena, of the National Driving School Association of South Africa, told the Pretoria News that what was most important to highlight was that the agreement was temporary until the Road Traffic Management Corporation had found a permanent solution.
“In the meantime, we have gone back to the older system that was being used before the most recent one, which was activated on February 18 with new changes that brought so many frustrations.
“A new system that will come, and hopefully be a permanent one, will give us (driving schools) profiles so that we can continue to represent our clients who need our help, so that we can also book testing appointments for them and make all necessary arrangements and preparations until they go on and take the tests,” Mokwena said.
Mamabolo said the Gauteng government had intervened and an agreement was reached by all parties involved. He said the department proactively created the Gauteng Driving School Council, where concerns could be raised and addressed before frustrations mounted and protests erupted.
Mamabolo said: “Our view has always been that the negotiation table is the only mechanism we can use to resolve problems. This agreement goes to show that we resolve the most complex problems by talking to each other, and not through violence and intimidation.
“Negotiation is the founding principle of our constitutional democratic dispensation. This, for us, is the only mechanism available to resolve even the most complex difficulties and problems.”
He said what made matters worse was that the online booking system was off between February 18 and March 1; this frustrated the operators because it meant the system was not sustainable.
“In other words, when the system is down, they cannot do business, they cannot help their clients. Roads Traffic Management Corporation did acknowledge that. We need a stable technical system.”
Pretoria News