Irregularities picked up at Kirkwood licence authority as early as 2012, court hears

Since 2012, concerns over irregularities and malpractices in the issuing of learner’s and driver’s licences at the Sundays River Valley municipality’s local traffic department had been investigated but nothing came of it.

Testifying on behalf of the state on Monday, assistant director of the national department of transport, Petrus Wepener, confirmed he had picked up issues related to the issuing of certain documents after being appointed to conduct an audit of the station in Kirkwood.

He noted serious concerns which he had raised with his superiors.

In his evidence in chief, Wepener said he had compiled his findings in a report, which among other things outlined how learner’s licences were issued to applicants who had failed their tests. He said he had remarked most of the failed applicants’ tests himself.

With regard to driver’s licences, Wepener said he had found that in certain cases there was no adherence to proper yard tests and K53 procedures.

He had presented his findings, along with strict instructions and recommendations, to the management representative of the traffic department, who at the time was Andrew Paul Petrus.

The three officials embroiled in the case — Rory Ray Petrus, 36, Zoleka Zandile Nopote, 37, and Nonceba Conelia Jack, 41, have pleaded not guilty to 50 charges against them.

They face charges including racketeering, fraud, corruption, forgery, furnishing false information, and unlawful issuance of learner’s and driver’s licences.

While Petrus and Jack opted not to enter plea explanations, Nopote, in her admissions, spilled the beans on how they, along with Petrus Snr and now deceased Ntomboxolo Lama, had allegedly flouted regulations and restrictions and given out false or forged documents for financial gain.

Petrus Jnr was a driver’s licence examiner while Nopote was temporarily employed as a filing clerk and Jack was a senior traffic officer.

Nopote said in the court documents that in April 2019 she had been approached by her superior who had suggested that some of her colleagues had been collecting money from people whom they supplied with falsified documentation to obtain their licences.

She admitted that she had on several occasions forged eye tests, communicated with others to facilitate the illegal transactions and schemed with her co-accused to continue the business of the alleged illegal enterprise.

According to the state, between December 2017 and March 2020, the accused colluded and formed an illegal enterprise by charging at least nine people amounts ranging between R1,000, for a forged eye test or falsified learner’s licence, and R5,000 for a “combo deal”.

In total, they are alleged to have pocketed more than R20,000.

They were arrested following an undercover police sting operation.

The case continues.