Open Letter to Minister of Works Transport and Communication, Joel Kaapanda:
Dear Hon. Kaapanda:
Subject: Wrong Book of Road Traffic Rules in Use
I am writing to register a serious public concern on the book which is being used and, I understand, recommended by your Ministry for persons who want to obtain the learners or drivers’ licence.
The book is titled: Pass Your Learner’s and Driver’s Easily, Namibian Edition by Clive Gibson, Gavin Hoole and Bata Passchier.
It is said to “cover the latest official test syllabus”. To the Public’s disappointment, especially those who want to own the Learner’s Licence, the people are told on arrival in the testing room that “you have (learned from) the wrong book!”
Why, Minister Kaapanda, are your officials at Namibia Traffic Information System (Natis) not taking this issue as a national problem? Is your office aware that there is a “wrong book” in circulation?
If this book is also being used by licence holders (drivers) on our roads, then our “Xupifa Eemwenyo (Save Lives)” campaign would be meaningless and a waste of our scarce resources.
I know for sure that there must be some people who are benefiting from the sales of the said book at the expense of the poor. Why is it allowed to go on, as if unnoticed, since its first publication in 2004?
The said book should have been banned from being sold or at least a serious warning should have been issued to the public.
The other recommendation on the learner’s licence is “a written or oral theory test that assesses your knowledge of the rules of the road, road traffic signs and signals, the controls of vehicle and duties in the event of a collision”.
What I have observed being practised in this country during the learner’s licence tests is only an oral theory test. Why not a written test?
This is especially necessary when there are too many people who come for a test and they end up being tested in a three-in-one fashion. That means one examiner is testing three people at a time.
I have personally witnessed this at Natis, Windhoek’s Northern Industry on September 28, 2007.
For your reference: my NaTIS identification number; 500100058 VZV and receipt number; 50010064M4 YW.
I am therefore calling upon your prompt intervention, Hon. Kaapanda, in this possible road crisis before it is too late. Natis is likely to be making money from the poor for gain.
Steven Mvula
Human Rights Activist