Making sure vehicles are roadworthy to hit the highways and byways is currently a municipal function, but the Stellenbosch Municipality hopes to outsource this service to the private sector.
The municipal council recently heard plans for the privatisation of the vehicle testing centre (VTC) in Joubert Street. The current state of the testing station is such that upgrading the facility would cost between R1 million and R2,4 million.
The VTC is non-compliant with the minimum standards to retain its registration and A-grading status, and continues to operate at a loss.
“It is very concerning that we allowed the vehicle testing station to fall into this state of disrepair and that we now wish to see that equipment upgrades are necessary in order for the station to remain a station of note for the Stellenbosch community,” ANC councillor Jacobus Davids noted.
He added that cases of corruption at VTCs are too often reported and urged that putting the VTC into private hands could possibly have the same outcome.
He warned against a situation where unroadworthy vehicles would be signed off by the leaseholder and asked for more clarity on what the role of the municipality would be if the privatisation of the facility is approved.
Davids’ concerns are not completely unfounded. In March a former vehicle examiner, Kgomotso Masindi (45), was sentenced to five years in prison or a R10 000 fine by the Atlantis Magistrates’ Court, after being found guilty of issuing fraudulent roadworthy certificates. Masindi was convicted on charges of fraud and corruption after the officers of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) arrested him for fraudulent dealings at the Jeffreys Bay VTC in the Eastern Cape between 2016 and 2018.
The local testing station, built in 1982, was equipped with Millitron equipment, but with the departure of Millitron the maintenance and quality of the technical maintenance became a concern.
Later, Clifford Technical Services took over the job, but this business closed shortly after its appointment.
The service provider the municipality used after Clifford Technical Services had trouble maintaining the “outdated” equipment and sourcing the necessary parts.
Along with these problems, the building also poses challenges of flooding in the pits and leakages in the roof during winter. The water problem also led to equipment failure as a result of water dripping onto machinery.
A lack of manpower is also cited as reason to outsource vehicle testing to an outside party.
Both councillors Marius van Stade (GOOD) and John Andrews (PA) said generating a profit is not the aim of a municipality and raised concerns on the lack of financial records provided for the VTC.
However, the proposal to outsource the service was passed during the council meeting on last Tuesday (31 March).
Outsourcing municipal testing stations is not unheard of, with the provincial government’s database showing majority of testing stations in the Cape Metropole are privately run.
