The issuing of fraudulent driver’s licences must be brought to a stop, Transport Minister Ben Martins said on Monday.

“We need to ensure that there isn’t corruption with regard to the issuing of driver’s licences,” he said in Pretoria.

“Unfortunately, the horrors, the facts, of fraudulent licences are to be seen on our roads.”

This was a problem that should be tackled together by the provinces and the national government.

“Some of the authority that comes with the spheres of governments are entrenched in the Constitution — we have to look at all those issues.”

Martins said fraudulent licences would remain a problem for some time, but the department was working on it.

“It’s not an issue that we can say we will eliminate in six months, but it’s an issue that we have to give the requisite attention.”

Martins told the Southern African Transport Conference that a reliable and efficient transport system was essential to the functioning of society.

“It has great influence and bearing on the location and range of economic and leisure activities. It influences the mobility of people. In some, it influences the quality of life…”

Martins said the transport sector should contribute to socio-economic development.

Investment in infrastructure should leave behind more than power stations, railway lines, dams, and roads.

“It must in necessity lead to heightened industrialisation in order to generate skills and boost job creation.”

The minister said state-owned companies and entities were contributing to infrastructure development.

The conference would also discuss transport for rural development, urban transport policy and planning, safety and security, rail transport, and road construction.

A set of recommendations and findings would be put together after the conference and presented to the transport department.

 

 

Source: The Citizen