The Voice (Francistown)
Monnakgotla Mojaki
29 April 2008
Francistown — The infighting between transport officers and instructors at the Maruapula transport testing centre in Gaborone took a controversial twist on Monday as instructors pulled their learners out of the testing centre yard. This followed a new rule that learners were not supposed to be accompanied by instructors on the testing fence.
The Association of Driving School and Instructors allege unfair treatment by the Department of Transport bosses. They complain that they don't treat them like customers as they toss them around and change the way they do things without informing them. One officer, whose name will be withheld for now, is accused of being bossy and is blamed for the Monday infighting that saw all instructors ordering their learners out of the testing centre if others were not allowed to go inside as well.
This has, however, been dismissed as unfounded allegations by the Principal Traffic Safety Officer, Isaac Nthaba, who was called in to calm the situation on Monday. Nthaba, however, told The Voice that he hasn't found out exactly who ordered the instructors not to come with their learners inside the testing ground.
"Nothing has changed as far as I know. I haven't even identified an officer accused of setting the new rules. The procedure is that learners come and register so officers here only want order. Of recent there has been some crowding next to where the learner being tested is. Some instructors are very uncooperative," Nthaba said, after persuading the instructors to all go back to work.
Although Nthaba denies there was a problem, sources in his office allege there was a meeting on Friday 18 April that resulted in the security man being told not to open for instructors and learners when they arrived on Monday.
"We have a problem with our superiors here; they don't want us to talk to instructors from driving schools. If they see us talking they complain. We also have a problem with where learners are taken for road tests. Some of them take learners to places without proper road marks and when you raise these issues its like you just want to give out licenses," complained one employee, who preferred anonymity. He continued, saying, "Our bosses here also doubt what we do in terms of giving out licenses. It is like they are the only ones who should give learners the green light."
The employees revealed they live in fear of being accused of dishing out licenses. Nthaba also dismissed the allegations as unfounded.
Spokesperson of the Association, Tshephang Weston, on the other hand, claimed that they have written a letter to the department on August 17 requesting for a meeting with the department only to be replied through a phone SMS by the officer they complain about.
"We don't want a mix-up inside the testing centre because if we crowd and shout at learners we will all be on the wrong side of the law because our people won't concentrate. So it is not true that we are confusing things inside the testing centre," Weston said
Nthaba advised that instructors shouldn't have complained by pulling everybody out but rather by showing them that they were making mistakes so that they build a good working relationship together.
"Our purpose is not to make learners pass but we rather test them so it is immaterial to us how many pass."
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