Learning to drive a motor vehicle is pivotal in modern society. Empowering residents with this capability is a programme initiated by the City’s Urban Regeneration Department in collaboration with various Subcouncils.
The Community Action Plan (CAP), initiated in this financial year, is a pilot programme to identify challenges in disadvantaged areas and to propose interventions that would have an immediate and meaningful impact. On Friday, 24 June 2022, the CAP celebrated its first milestone when the Department hosted a ceremony to congratulate 120 candidates who passed their learner’s licences.
The programme is the first mass roll-out and pilot in the respective subcouncils. It consists of two phases: the learner’s licence is the first phase and the second phase is the driver’s licence.
One of the interventions proposed via the CAP process was the upskilling of unemployed people by training them via the driver’s licence programme. The intervention is based on the current job market which shows that most of the few available job opportunities require a driver’s licence.
Over a period of three months, an accredited driving school took 120 candidates through a four-day intensive training programme in preparation for the learner’s licence assessments.
The project offered the following:
· Learner’s Licence classes with an accredited driving school
· Booking Learner’s Licence assessment dates
· Transport to Learner’s Licence classes
· Transport to the assessment venue on the appointed dates
· Catering
The targeted communities include Khayelitsha, Joe Slovo Park and Phoenix.
‘The community response to this project is amazing. We received approximately 2 000 applications and the participants worked hard and achieved an 85% pass rate. This demonstrates there is a need and people appreciate the service we are offering. Unemployment is a huge challenge in our country and obtaining a driver’s licence is costly. Driving schools sometimes require learners to meet them at central points, meaning they have to take iphela (a passenger vehicle being used as a taxi) to get to those points. Thus, as a caring city, we are giving them a hand at no cost to them,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
‘The learner’s licence teaches them the basics of the rules of the road and vehicle control. This the first step in the right direction with the next being the driver’s licence. This offering will go a long way and will give the participants independence and give them access to the job market. The ultimate goal is to empower our residents with skills that will prepare, especially young people, for the world of work,’ said Councillor Cassiem.
‘I commend the participants for their efforts and am confident that they will do well in the next phase and looking forward to hearing testimonies of how this programme assisted them,’ said Alderman Andrews.
