By Nicole Solis  August 26th, 2009 9:57 am  |  Comments (0)

In Lenyene, a rural township in South Africa, driving tests have become group entertainment. On Media Club South Africa, Bridget Hilton-Barber describes the shared thrill of victory, as well as the public agony of defeat, as the drivers took their tests:

As the nervous drivers were put through their paces, the crowd either booed or whooped according to their performance. Those who stalled or knocked over the orange road markers were met with guffaws and insults, while those who didn’t got clapping and ululating. The successful emerged to high fives and backslapping; the unsuccessful slunk off with their tails between their legs.

In this part of the country, driving has become a symbol of upward mobility, spurring the development of a small industry of driving schools and even encouraging some sangomas, or traditional healers, to add a new service to their menu: help passing a driving test.

Read Hilton-Barber’s fascinating post at Media Club South Africa.