Reader’s Letter: Unprofessionalism at traffic department

Employees of the traffic department are some of the rudest, most unprofessional, and arrogant people I have encountered in a while.

About a month ago when I applied to renew my driver’s licence, the eye-test lady barked one-word commands at me like a dog: “Sit, I said sit!”, “move” and later “go”.

When I told her she was rude and cannot treat the public in such a manner, she simply grunted and waved me off.

Last week, having not received my promised SMS to collect my licence, I decided to pop in at the traffic department. It was ready, a fact a person is not informed of. Nonetheless, the journey from the parking area to the front desk was not such a happy one.

Upon entering the parking area, not one bay was open, but a BMW was parked over two. A traffic department employee was casually collecting her lunch from the car.

I politely asked whether she could see there was no parking available. She replied, yes, but she didn’t want anyone to damage her expensive car with their car doors.

When I pointed out that she had no right, particularly as an employee, to limiting parking space for public use, she said that she didn’t care.

Traffic department employees are meant to serve the public who, as taxpayers, pay their salary, and not treat people this way.

Spokesman for the City of Mbombela, David Shabangu, said the municipality was dealing with the matter.