Vindication, exoneration, and excuses: The antonyms of accountability

Despite decades of policy, NICK PORÉE reports that South Africa’s freight transport sector remains dangerously unregulated – undermined by political neglect, systemic corruption, and chronic failure in driver and vehicle oversight.

The road freight industry in South Africa was released from quantitative (supply-side) regulation in 1987 and was supposed to be regulated by a Road Transport Quality System (RTQS). Due to industry interference and official ignorance of international best practice, the system was badly designed and diluted into ineffectiveness. The industry continues to expand without effective regulation of competence in the management, maintenance, and operation of the powerful machines used on public roads.

In contrast, the legislation controlling mines and industrial works defines the professional qualifications required inside business premises according to the installed power in kilowatts (kW). Road transport regulation, by comparison, allows anyone to operate unlimited kW of power – without even registration – using poorly trained operators and badly maintained machines, on public roads. The impact of this poorly designed regulatory system and the lack of accountability for quality management, both by authorities and operators, is becoming increasingly evident.

Accidents and drivers

The accident reporting system is inadequate for the volume of traffic and the geographical size of the country. It relies largely on the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Road Traffic Inspectors (RTIs) in all provinces, which do not have the manpower to cover 24-hour transport activities.

Concessionaires report that truck movements on the N3 corridor are approximately 7,000 per day (over 8,500 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg), with trucks comprising 44% of vehicles on the route. Approximately 100 crashes per month are recorded between Cedara and Gauteng, of which 60% involve trucks. The four most prevalent accident types are:

• vehicles rolling (23.3%)
• leaving the road (19.4%)
• rear-end collisions (13.8%)
• damage to toll plazas (14.7%)

The number of trucks retrieved from arrestor beds increased by 46% from 2019 to 2021, and the trend continues. In eThekwini, which has excellent road safety management systems, the number of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) accidents on the N3–M7 corridor to the port is approximately 800 per year, with rear-end and side-swipe collisions predominating. It must be noted that 85% of truck crashes indicate driver ineptitude or negligence, which can be attributed to the inefficient and corrupt system of driver training, testing, and licensing in South Africa.

The driver-training system includes instructors, testers, and managers who are themselves untrained in operating loaded commercial vehicles. Drivers trained in unloaded mini trucks do not learn about the effects of speed on inertial mass, gearbox management, the four levels of retardation (via gearing and compression, engine brake, retarder, and ABS braking). It is the equivalent of teaching a boy to ride a bicycle and then setting him loose in traffic on a Harley-Davidson.

The system is riddled with corruption. To prove the point: we once paid for a man to obtain an EC licence, which took seven weeks and cost R12,000, of which R3,000 went to officials. It was some time before he could safely drive a car.

In developed countries, HGV driver training is a recognised profession. In Australia, the Certificate IV in Motor Vehicle Driver Training (TLI41222) is a prerequisite to become an instructor. The training firms that provide instruction issue the pass certificates that allow candidates to apply for licences to drive specific classes of vehicle. In Australia, the Australian Driver Trainers Association (ADTA) is the industry body for professional trainers.
In the United Kingdom (UK), driver training quality is controlled by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

The 150-page HGV Instructor Manual, compiled by Bayway Books, is based on Australian manuals (used with permission) and covers course content, programme structure, and testing. It has not been published, as there is no requirement for professional accreditation to become an HGV instructor in South (or Southern) Africa.

Accidents and vehicle condition

The vehicle testing system is also fatally flawed by poor design and exacerbated by endemic corruption. As revealed by a recent investigation by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), there is widespread corruption at Vehicle Testing Stations (VTSs), where fraudulent roadworthy certificates are issued without physical inspections. The South African Vehicle Testing Association (VTA) supports the need for stricter oversight and enforcement in the roadworthy certification process.

A week spent at the DVSA in the UK revealed the stark contrast with the system in South Africa. In the UK, every vehicle must receive an annual Ministry of Transport (MoT) certificate in order to renew its licence. MoT certificates are issued by registered automotive workshops with qualified professional staff. All details of the vehicle, inspection, and repairs are forwarded to the DVSA and stored (and continually analysed) in a comprehensive national database of vehicle tests.

These workshops, which depend on MoTs for 65% of their business, take full accountability for the condition of vehicles they pass. Vehicle condition on the roads is also monitored by teams of trained, qualified inspectors whose reports feed into the same database. Reports of vehicle defects traced to a VTS can lead to its deregistration as a MoT testing centre.

Regulation and monitoring of commercial transport

In South Africa, commercial transport remains unregulated due to the failure to establish a national Transport Registrar, as was originally intended in the RTQS. The only national database of vehicles and owners is the Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System (eNatis), managed by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) has warned that the system is being corrupted, hacked, and used for fraudulent activity to facilitate vehicle theft. The fraud enabled through eNatis is not limited to theft, but involves sophisticated calculations targeting high-value vehicles, leading to significant losses for both institutions and individuals.

Exoneration

Recommendations for intervention in all the above areas were included in the Road Freight Strategy prepared for the Department of Transport (DoT) and approved by Cabinet in 2017. Unfortunately, not one of the 13 Ministers of Transport since has seen fit to address these issues. The so-called “implementation” project that followed Cabinet approval was, in fact, an exercise in neutralising the recommendations in order to placate existing authorities.

Future action

The current problems are well known and could be addressed by decisive action. However, this would require a comprehensive overhaul and reorganisation of the DoT and its agencies – refocusing priorities, removing duplication and corruption, and ensuring effective system development and accountable management.