Hawks Investigate Alleged Licence Testing Centre Scam

Three people appeared in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday facing fraud charges after an intelligence-driven Hawks investigation into fake eye-test certificates for driver’s licence applicants.

Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana identified the accused as 52-year-old David Vilakati, who allegedly posed as an optometrist, and two co-accused in their twenties, Siziphiwe Noholoza and Lithakazi Zide. The State alleges none of the three are professionally qualified or registered to conduct optometrist examinations.

According to Mhlakuvana, the Hawks began investigating in December last year after receiving information that fraudulent eye-test certificates were being issued from a privately owned steel container at the King Sabata Dalinyebo Local Municipality Driver Licence Testing Centre in Mthatha.

To test the tip-off, undercover investigators carried out three covert operations over a week in January and obtained the certificates. Mhlakuvana said one suspect, who works for a registered optometrist, allegedly handed over certificates in exchange for cash payments.

The investigation also uncovered a similar operation in Libode, where members of the public were allegedly charged R150 per certificate despite no legitimate eye test being conducted.

Vilakati, Noholoza and Zide were each granted R500 bail. The matter was postponed to 20 July as the Hawks continued their investigation.

The Hawks have warned the public to only obtain eye-test certificates from registered and qualified optometrists, and to report suspicious activity at driver licence testing centres.