Minister admits slipping up on vehicle licence renewal notices

RESIDENTS have not been receiving licence renewal notifications for months now because the Post Office has not been paid by the Department of Transport.

This is according to Manny de Freitas, DA shadow minister of transport.

In a statement released, De Freitas said: “For a number of months now, there has been turmoil in the issuing of vehicle licence renewals. I have been receiving numerous complaints countrywide where motorists have simply not received their annual licence renewal reminders.

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“For some time I have tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain a straight answer from the Department of Transport as to what the problem is. In the meantime, motorists have received fines for driving with expired licence disks through no fault of their own.

“After receiving no clear reasons for this chaos, I submitted official questions to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters. Her replies confirmed that the root cause of the problem was her department,” he said.

“More specifically, the delay in sending out licence renewal notices was ‘due to non-payment of Post Office outstanding fees’, which she claims has now been settled. According to the Minister, a facility has been activated at the Post Office and there will be no further delays with regards to this service.

“I await, with bated breath, the regularisation of the renewal reminder service.”

De Freitas asked: How could the Department of Transport allow a situation like this to have developed in the first place? Hundreds of thousands of law-abiding motorists have been prejudiced thanks to the department’s incompetence. This is simply an unacceptable state off affairs.

“I will be submitting additional questions to the minister demanding an explanation along with confirmation of the normalisation of the renewal reminder service.”