South Africa’s best traffic training college celebrates 25 years of excellence
Programme Director
Traffic Chiefs
Advocate Christhenus van der Vijver from the NPA
Head of Department, colleagues as well as the leadership of the Gene Louw Traffic College
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured to be able to join you all this morning in celebrating this incredible milestone in the history of an institution that has, over the past 25 years, strengthened its foundations of sound and professional service delivery; employing best practices to produce the finest graduates for a life of dedicated service.
The Gene Louw Traffic College came into being on 1 February 1988, and was officially opened by the then Western Cape Administrator, Mr Gene Louw on 15 September 1989, as a non-racial training institution. The staff compliment at the time consisted of six instructors, and there were eleven traffic students. The duration of the first course was 16 weeks and the learners could choose between English or Afrikaans classes.
Gene Louw Traffic College services included Provincial Administration, all municipalities and Regional Services Councils in the then Cape Province as well as the Transkei. I was informed by the Head of College that we have many former staff members in the audience today. It is an honour to have you with us today as testament to the value you all place in this institution and the work that it does. We had hoped that Mr Gene Louw would be able to join us today, unfortunately he has taken ill. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Since its opening, this college has consistently set SMART goals to develop, improve and produce highly qualified Traffic Officers, Examiners for Driving Licences, and Examiners of Vehicles. The efforts of the management and staff over the years have firmly established the Gene Louw Traffic College as a leading traffic training college in South Africa.
The achievements of the Gene Louw Traffic College were acknowledged at the 2013 Road Traffic Management Corporation awards ceremony, where our college and staff competed with the nine other traffic and municipal colleges and recognised, in all the five categories, as the Best Traffic Training College in South Africa.
The Gene Louw Traffic Training College recently achieved full registration and accreditation with SASSETA, the RTMC, as well as with the SAPS, as an official institution to facilitate and manage firearm training. Extended training interventions provided over the past few years include, but are not limited to:
- AARTO.
- Compulsory Firearm Refresher.
- Traffic Warden.
- Development and Implementation of e-Learning.
- Field Training Officers.
- Use of Breath Analysing and Speed Enforcement equipment.
With the introduction of the Traffic Qualification in January 2011, the duration of the Traffic Officers course was extended to 12 months and entailed outcomes based training, which is linked to specific Unit Standards and Credits.
To ensure that the college actively participates in, and positively contributes to, Traffic Training and Development in general, many working hours and funds are set aside for staff members to attend various National forums, such as panel meetings for all of the formal training courses, as well as Provincial Coordination and planning meetings at Provincial and Local Government level.
The Western Cape Government has made a sizeable investment in upgrading traffic training facilities to meet specific requirements, which allow the college to maintain its registration and accreditation with the respective professional bodies, as well as enhance the training that is facilitated. As part of the planned upgrade you would have probably noticed the massive construction of a brand new two lane pit area for the Examiner of Vehicles and a K53 track for the Examiner for Driving Licence components.
I should like to encourage existing staff members to take our guests and former colleagues on a guided tour of your new facilities which includes; a gym, registry facility, electronic resource centre, eNatis and Live Capturing Unit computer room, boardrooms, agility track, and upgraded classrooms and office space.
The envisaged future developments for the college include:
- Residential accommodation for the students.
- Conversion of the old pit area into an indoor shooting range.
- Exploring the possibility of establishing an onsite Traffic Museum for the Traffic Profession. (for which we have commenced collection of all previous uniform and equipment utilised in the traffic environment).
The work that we do at this college is testament to our commitment to making our roads safer for the citizens of this province. I have no doubt in my mind that the Gene Louw Traffic College will maintain its status as a leading institution that continues to provide unmatched levels of traffic training and development, within an increasingly complex and challenging traffic management environment.
For the past three years, the students and staff at this college have also been very busy fulfilling their social responsibilities through raising money, as well as collecting food and clothing donations, for their adopted community based NGOs:
- Saartjie Baartman.
- Fikilele Children’s Home.
- House of Grace.
I only hope that this example of excellence and selflessness set by the Gene Louw Traffic College family can be emulated elsewhere, so that we can all move closer and closer to creating an open opportunity society for all South Africans, so that we can all live lives we truly value.
Thank you.
Media Enquiries:
Siphesihle Dube
Spokesperson for Donald Grant, Minister of Transport and Public Works
Tel: 021 483 8954
Cell: 084 233 3811