The Mapulaneng Driving Licence Testing Centre in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, shut temporarily after a fire early on Monday morning. Officials from Bushbushridge Local Municipality found a petrol bottle at the scene, pointing to deliberate arson. Eye-testing machines and licensing equipment were destroyed, though licences were rescued.
Bushbuckridge Local Municipality spokesperson Fhumulani Thovhakale confirmed that four offices at the centre caught fire. The blaze destroyed eye-testing machines, licensing equipment, and some documents.
Thovhakale noted the discovery of a petrol bottle, suggesting intentional damage. "We take comfort in the fact that really there were no confidential documents that were burnt and also the licences that were in the offices, we managed to rescue them because they were not burnt," Thovhakale said.
The incident disrupts services at the centre, which had been undergoing development. "Spending the budget that we don’t have for the development of Bushbuckridge and you find incidences like these because the offices are completely burnt [including] the machines that they use for eye testing," Thovhakale added. Funds will now be needed to replace the lost equipment and furniture.
Reporting by Nonkululeko Shongwe for SABC News.