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Although outrageous, it might not come as a surprise that despite Mpumalanga owing Eskom R4.9 billion and Rand Water R795 million, a local municipality spent nearly R160,000 to help four employees get their driver’s licenses.

The Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in Secunda paid three times the normal price to upgrade the driver’s licences, with the driving school that got the tender saying it could not miss the lucrative business opportunity. If it’s reining tenders, you gotta scoop your share, eh?

The going rate for acquiring a code EC licence, commonly known as Code 14, at driving schools in the area is between R6,000 and R10,000 for a full package which includes a learner’s licence, driving lessons and licence bookings. But no, tender!

The cost is even more ridiculous considering that recently, all that is required to get a driver’s license is knowing how to switch on your hazard lights.

The R160,000 is contained in the human resources development report which was tabled in council last week and now the DA has written to the office of Mayor Nhlakanipho Zuma to seek clarity on the bill and the necessity of the licences.

The report lists John Tate Driving School as the company that won the tender. Driving school owner Tate told Sowetan the tender and pricing were above board.

“I was called to send a quotation and I did. I charged R40,000 per person as that is not an individual but a company and they approved me and I did the job. Had they complained about quoting maybe I would have considered a lower amount.”

“I charge companies higher because they have money, unlike individuals. It’s a simple and fair business practice.”

Simple, yes. Fair, not so much considering the taxpayers are being asked to pay up. According to the municipality, they had issued a tender and John Tate was picked because they offered the lowest prices.

Two driving schools in Secunda that Sowetan contacted claimed to charge between R6,500 and R10,000 for the same service, but the municipality defended the price by arguing that the licence upgrades were necessary to enable the staff to drive the yellow fleet-compactor trucks that are used to patch potholes. Have they tried switching on their hazard lights?

“The referred employees have now been used meaningfully in the area of their employment as they can operate the newly procured bigger yellow fleet – compactor trucks with the relevant driver’s licence.”