Lowveld motorists express their frustration over poor service delivery

MBOMBELA – Lowveld motorists have faced a myriad uncertainties when trying to renew their licence discs at a number of licensing centres.

The Nelspruit Licensing Centre has been inundated with long queues and the growing frustration of motorists who have been turned away a number of times. This is after the moratorium on renewing discs had been extended to the end of September because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

For Lowveld motorists, this reprieve is far from helpful as many spend hours queuing in order to renew theirs.

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According to Thokozisi Ngomane, he spent several hours in line at the Nelspruit Licensing Centre last week, and received no assistance.

“I had been queuing for about two hours and no one had attended to us yet. We asked the security guard who managed to assign us to different queues and we hoped this would make the process run more efficiently,” he
said.

Lowvelder visited the centre at about 11:00 last Tuesday as locals hoping to have their discs renewed, waited in a line outside.

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Jabu Malinga, who had hoped to have his renewed, said he was frustrated that only a set number of people were being seen.

“I have been queuing since about 07:00 and no one has been to help since I arrived here. Only about six or seven people have been allowed to enter the offices since I have been here,” he said.

For Nico Pretorius, the time spent travelling to and from different licensing centres, is the root of his frustration.

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“I have been here since 08:15 after having tried last week. Then I was told that they had run out of paper. It appears as though they do not care about the time we spend going to and fro.

“I am not prepared to pay any fines. It is almost 11:00 and there appears to be only one person helping. This is ridiculous because as the time passes, the fines increase.

“It’s unfair because they are definitely not meeting us halfway,” he said.

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Community safety, security and liaison’s spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi responded to a Lowvelder enquiry and confirmed that all licensing centres were still operated by the City of Mbombela Local Municipality on behalf of the department.

“The only aspect the department is taking over is revenue collections. However, negotiations are still ongoing with regard to it taking over the licensing functions at Mbombela,” he said.

Mmusi reiterated that all licensing centres are fully operational. “As far as we know, all centres are operating fully unless there is a Covid-19 case reported that necessitates its closure for decontamination.”

He said face-value paper is supplied by the department, adding that penalties would unfortunately be levied as people had been given sufficient time to renew their licence discs.