Code C1 driver’s licence issuance under review says Transport Ministry 

By: Ludorf Iyambo

The Ministry of Works and Transport says it has identified the code C1 driver licensing system as having challenges and that amendments are being processed to amend the irregularities.

The ministry’s transportation regulations management director, Damian Mabengano said this on Tuesday, while responding to inquiries from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Housing.

“The C1, it came out as a challenge and Roads Authority has reported that there is a problem that we need to quickly address. We are busy with the amendments. We have a model that we have agreed at subject level, that all the subject members must comply to that and we are busy. Currently we made some amendments.

“We had a stakeholder consultation; the proposal came in terms of how the regulation should be. We have done that and it is in the process for us to change. It needs to be gradual, you start from the first part where you are supposed to do driving, gradually going up to the track,” said Mabengano.

The committee called on the Ministry to amend the country’s driver licensing system, to require motorists to first obtain a Code B drivers licence, as a pre-requisite to test for a Code C1licence.

The parliamentary committee noted that too many code C1 drivers obtain their licences after bypassing the basic licence processes that are tested for a code B1 drivers’ licence category.

Committee Chairperson, George Garab, said the recommendation stems from findings made during the committee’s oversight mission, where lawmakers noted that a significant number of road crashes involve drivers holding code C1 driver licences.

“Now, when we synchronize and amend our laws, we need to take this in cognizance, that we can match some licenses, that even though you are going for C1, you need to be properly tested. It does not matter what type of license you are going for. You are a threat on our roads,” said Garab. 

Committee member, Erickson Ndawanifa, argued that some of the practical driving requirements associated with Code B licences, including manoeuvres such as parallel parking, are not adequately assessed under the current C1 testing process.

“And this is now a worrisome, and I have to relate this one to the competency of competent drivers, whether we have got competent drivers on the Namibian roads. Why do we think people are rushing to get a license C1 other than getting or starting with the license B? What does it mean to us?

“With this one, do we have competent drivers on the road that some of them, that they are going to be on transportation, yet on C1, apparently, these tracks, they do not go via some of the requirements, like parking’s, parallels, and so forth,” said Ndawanifa. 

The committee members called for a meeting with the transport ministry following the urgent need for critical measures to combat the rising road accidents crisis in Namibia.

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