Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy has requested the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate vehicle testing stations (VTSs) in South Africa.
This comes after a damning report by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) exposed widespread corruption in the VTS sector.
Outa revealed vehicles that fail roadworthy inspections in Gauteng are regularly issued roadworthy certificates by testing stations in Limpopo and North West, sometimes within as little as 30 minutes.
Likewise, VTSs across multiple provinces issue roadworthy certificates without mandatory inspections, possibly in exchange for bribes.
Outa also noted that a network of testing station owners, including public officials and fleet operators, has been identified as part of this scheme.
“The corruption cannot be allowed to continue, since it’s endangering the lives of millions of South African road users at risk daily,” said Rudie Heyneke, Senior Project Manager at Outa.
“This is something our country can ill afford.”
The issues highlighted in the report will be added to the current scope of the SIU’s investigation in respect of the affairs of the various transport departments around South Africa.
“While the Transport Department is urging drivers to take personal responsibility for safer roads, outa believes that real change must start with government accountability,” said Heyneke.
He pointed to the recently released 2025 World’s Safest Roads report by Zutobi, which once again ranked South Africa as the world’s most dangerous country to drive in.
“With 24.5 road deaths per 100 000 people, we should be deeply concerned,” said Heyneke.
“This crisis is worsened by corruption in road safety enforcement, which allows thousands of unroadworthy vehicles to remain on the roads.”
A broken system
Heyneke labelled the country’s current vehicle testing regime as a “broken system enabling road carnage.”
He highlighted two alarming issues surrounding road safety and vehicle roadworthiness:
- 1.2 million vehicles in South Africa are deemed unroadworthy
- An additional 800,000 vehicles are either unregistered or classified as unroadworthy
- Road accidents cost the economy R205 billion annually, 2.47% of the GDP
While increased policing and arrests are all well and good, they do not address the root cause of the issue.
“We cannot improve road safety while corruption at testing stations goes unchecked,” said Heyneke.
“Issuing and accepting fraudulent roadworthy certificates is a criminal offence that has a direct impact on road deaths.”
He further argues that vehicle owners obtaining roadworthy certificates in this manner are just as guilty as the individuals issuing the certificates, and they should also be prosecuted.
In an effort to enforce accountability and inform the public of what’s really going on behind the scenes, Outa has decided to release the report of its investigation in VTSs to the public.
“While we appreciate the Minister’s decision to hand over [the report] to the Special Investigating Unit, Outa decided that it is in the public interest to share our findings,” said Reyneke.
“Outa remains committed to working with civil society to push for urgent reforms in vehicle testing and road safety enforcement.”
The full Outa report can be found here.
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