Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Sihle Zikalala today, 31 March 2022, held a successful meeting with the Ubumbano Driving School Operators Association in an effort to strengthen working relations between the organisation and government.
The meeting follows the march on the 09th of this month during which the operators raised a number of concerns and sought the Premier's intervention. In the memorandum handed over during the march the operators, among other concerns, raised the following grievances:
•Driving school road signs;
•Holding and parking bays;
•Reserved lanes for driving school vehicles;
•Visibility of road markings/road signs which have faded.
During today's engagement, the Premier who was accompanied by Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni agreed with the Association on a road map which will address the operators' concerns.
The meeting also agreed that a team consisting of officials from the Office of the Premier, the Department of Transport and the Association be formed. The team will work as a steering committee that will report back regularly to the Premier and MEC seeking to resolve some of the concerns raised by the Driving School Operators.
The Premier thanked the operators for the significant role they continue to play in transforming the economy of the province as facilitators of employment opportunities and their huge contribution in creating employment opportunities especially for the poor and marginalised.
Driving schools play a critical role in the promotion of road safety for both drivers and pedestrians.
Premier Zikalala noted that some of the issues raised fall within the mandate of National Government. In this regard, the Premier committed to raise the converns with the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula.
The meeting noted that many grievances fell within the ambit of the municipalities where the driving schools operate. These will be addressed through the South African Local Government Association (Salga) while others will be raised by MEC Nkonyeni during the MINMEC meetings hosted by Minister Mbalula.
“We thank the operators for raising their concerns with us. We want to assure the operators that we have heard them and we will attend to the grievances as soon as possible. As government we are convinced that if we work together we will be able to find lasting solutions to resolve the industry's legitimate concerns. We expect the team that we have assembled today to meet at least once every two months to implement the roadmap as agreed today," said Premier Zikalala.
The Premier also committed to urgently convene a summit where all the industry concerns will be ironed out so it can play its critical role as enabler of economic growth and development in our province.
Ends
Issued by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government Communication