The Ba-Phalaborwa Roadworthy Centre which was closed for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic was on Wednesday afternoon, the 15th of June, reopened. The Ba-Phalaborwa Mayor, Merriam Malatji, explained that when the pandemic hit, a lot was lost, including the life of one employee at the centre.
“The Corona virus forced us to find new ways to ensure that services were being rendered, even though, we were in dangerous times. It was difficult to be productive as a municipality,” stated Malatji.
“The community services Roadworthy Centre was one of the municipal spaces that were hit hard by the impact of Covid-19. One colleague who was stationed here passed away due Covid-19. Others no longer qualified to continue working due to comorbidities and the restrictions that we had to apply.”
She also elaborated that the municipality in losing the centre, had lost one of its revenue generating sections for a significant amount of time.
“We have a responsibility as the Municipality to provide better service to our community. Other than the fact that vehicle worthiness is one of the most important requirements for the safety of all our road users, we also felt that our community was losing the value for money because of having to go to private testing centres which charge approximately R550 to R650 per test depending on the size of the vehicle,” she explained.
The municipality offered free safety checks to everybody who needed it on Wednesday for free, and any faults found were not fined nor any tickets issued. The mayor when launching the centre, was accompanied by the speaker, Oliver Mabunda, EXCO members, senior managers, local and provincial traffic officers, as well as representatives from the local taxi associations.
