THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

I recently received a press statement warning us all that the number of bogus doctors plying their trade in South Africa runs into the hundreds. Quoting Professor Denise White, chairperson of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), the statement pointed out that these doctors ranged from individuals with no training practising as, among others, paediatricians and neurologists through to backstreet abortionists operating under the most dismal and unhygienic circumstances imaginable. Commenting on this state of affairs, Ina van der Merwe, CEO of international background screening company Kroll, said an ever increasing number of individuals were faking their qualifications and this included doctors, nurses and other medically related professions. “The medical profession has become a favourite among fraudsters because of the potentially lucrative career opportunities it offers,” she said, adding that her company had over the years uncovered many bogus doctors. One of the most well known cases was that of a well respected paediatrician who had been operating at an East Rand hospital for years while the only qualifications he had was that of a male nurse. She added that fraudulent qualifications across the board were on the increase with between 15% and 18% turning out to be fraudulent. ”The problem of ‘professionals’ faking their qualifications has reached near-epidemic proportions. Many have impressive fake diplomas from top universities complete with wax seals hanging in their offices that look exactly like the real thing but are as fake as a R7 bank note.” 

Amazing isn’t it? Or is it? It got me to thinking that in South Africa, there are a lot of bogus people posing as qualified practitioners and getting away with it. And it can’t be that hard to do. I mean, if a male nurse can spend years in a hospital practising as a specialist paediatrician, it has got to be pretty simple to con your way around the lesser occupations. Take politicians as an example. These ranks are riddled with bogus men and women pretending to be professional practitioners who have the needs of the electorate at heart but in truth, merely have the lining of their own pockets in mind. They pose as public servants occupying high office in the service of the people but in reality are merely greedy grunters with their snouts sniffing around every trough to see what they can get out of it. Scandal after scandal continues to hit our newspapers on an almost weekly basis with millions of Rands of taxpayer’s funds being squandered by these scoundrels – most of which is siphoned off into their own, a family member or a friend’s pocket. 

Then there are the ranks of our law enforcers – the police and traffic officials. Here too these ranks are riddled with bogus personnel who instead of wearing the uniform with pride and doing their jobs to the best of their ability for the safety of the public, instead use that uniform to line their pockets through the acceptance of bribes. I once threatened to have an officer arrested at a roadblock for telling me to pay him R100 and I could drive off. I was in the wrong. I did not have my driver’s licence on me and to get the problem to go away, all I had to do was hand R100 over to the cop. I got out of my car and asked him to identify his commanding officer to me. “Why?” he asked. “Because you, not me, are going to spend the night in jail. You are a corrupt cop and therefore a criminal and deserve to be in jail rather than wearing the uniform you have on,” I replied. It’s a true story which I won’t go into fully here. The point is, there are numerous cops around who are bogus. While on this subject, let’s not forget the many ’bogus’ law-abiding citizens who are quite willing to hand over a bribe to a bogus cop. Handing over a bribe is as much a criminal activity as is taking a bribe. All you are doing is perpetuating the culture of criminality and as such, you can hardly lay claim to being a ‘law-abiding’ citizen. 

Let’s now look at our own trucking industry. How many truck operators do you know of who claim to be professional transporters yet, by their actions, are actually bogus transporters. They don’t care two hoots about the roadworthiness of their trucks, the welfare of their drivers, the legality of their operations and all the other good things that go into making a professional transporter. Not long ago I gave a talk to a room full of transporters and I asked who among them had read Section 49 of the National Road Traffic Act. Not one hand went up. For goodness sake, Section 49 clearly details the duties of an operator and not one of them in the room had read it. Amazing isn’t it? Or is it? When one sees the state of some of the vehicles on our roads, the amazement tends to fall away. The operators of such vehicles are bogus operators and serve merely to taint the good names of the professional operators – big and small. 

And while on this point, how many bogus ‘professional’ truck drivers are sitting behind the wheels of the thousands of trucks that ply our roads every day? Thousands I'd say. Let me give you an example of why I say this. Manline, an outstanding logistics company based in Pietermaritzburg, has in place a driver selection, induction and training programme that ranks among the best in the world. At the recent opening of their new training centre – which we will tell of in our next edition – it was pointed out that out of a total of 100 drivers who applied for jobs at the company, only seven passed the screening process as being suitable candidates for training. Note - not to immediately get behind the wheel of a truck and drive. Rather, be suitable for training. That’s seven out of 100 and here’s the crunch: every one of the 100 drivers who applied were ‘professional’ licenced drivers! Scary! 

I could go on and on: bogus vehicle test centres which issue Certificates of Roadworthiness to trucks which are ready for the scrap-heap (yes, we have seen this); bogus suppliers who promise the world and deliver nothing (yes, we have seen this); bogus shippers who claim to operate on a win-win basis with transporters yet squeeze the rates down to the point of strangulation (yes, we have seen this). What is real in this South Africa of ours? What is genuine? Go on face value...Ha! You’ve got to be kidding! What you see in this place is not what you get. It’s normally what you have to check. I might not make many friends by saying this but I contend that it’s not only the medical sector where the problem of ‘professionals’ faking their qualifications has reached near-epidemic proportions. It is also the transport sector. Please change your ways if you are one of them. 

Patrick O'Leary
Managing Editor