My unforgettable experience at the Stanger licencing department

Renewing a licence disk is definitely not one of my favourite annual tasks, and after the continuous drama at the Salt Rock licencing department, I was slightly reluctant to make the trip to Stanger.

But with my 21 day grace period over and my chances of a hefty fine now a strong reality, I had no choice but to venture to the KwaDukuza licencing department on Monday.

Wherever you go in town, there has been much negativity about this department, so I really prepared myself.

Armed with a GPS – it’s not the easiest place to find thanks to the road works – a bottle of water, some snacks (I expected to wait over an hour) and my trusty side-kick (the boyfriend), we ventured down to the offices ready for action.

Little did I know that I was in for quite a surprise – and a good one at that, because it was actually an unexpectedly painless experience.

After getting lost in the residential area, my boyfriend and I eventually arrived at 2pm and were horrified to discover we only had 30 minutes available to us as they close at 2.30pm and not 3pm as advertised online!

But surprisingly those 30 minutes were more than ample.

The staff at reception were very helpful and within two minutes we were given all the necessary documents to complete.

There were even working pens on the counter!

After about 10 minutes we worked our way up to the motor licencing office where we were greeted to a queue of less than 10 people.

There were three staff members on duty and each one was working timeously, as the queue moved relatively quickly.

When we arrived at the teller we handed in our documents, however we had miscalculated the amount owed and only had 15 minutes to rush to the nearest ATM (there are no card facilities).

The teller kindly kept our documents with him so we could complete the process as soon as we returned.

As we were about to leave, a security officer named Skhumbuzo (also known as Eric) came to the rescue and kindly lent us the outstanding amount we owed.

Looking decidedly shocked we walked out the office at 2.30pm on the dot (and off we went to find an ATM to repay the loan).

The experience was quite unexpectedly pleasant and, aside from the 20 minute drive from Ballito, we were more than happy with the service.

If you have all necessary documents, the right amount of cash and you fully complete the forms (they are not terribly impressed when you leave out information), you are likely to have a painless experience!

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