Headaches all round for those involved in the licensing process

MOKOPANE – This statement of Yolande Coetzee, DA Ward Councillor, comes after confusion between the Mogalakwena Municipality, the Licensing Department and local dealers.

One of the obstacles in the Licensing Department’s way is that motor vehicle dealerships in Mokopane cannot register dealer stock and that the new owner has to first register as a titleholder, before the motor dealer can register the stock.

Coetzee told Bosveld that “In terms of the Constitution of South Africa and the National Road Traffic Act, the registration authorities deliver services under agreement with the Department of Transport Provincial. Currently these services cannot seemingly be delivered by the local municipality. This prompts dealerships and businesses to outsource to other municipal authorities for services in registration authorities.”

A meeting in May earlier the year between the DA, the municipality and local vehicle dealerships outlined the challenges these dealers are currently facing. According to Coetzee a report was compiled by the Licensing Department from the input received from dealerships.

This report was submitted to the Provincial Roads and Transport Department for intervention and resolutions.

According to Coetzee, this is a financial risk for the motor dealers, as most of the customers are situated in other areas where the registration will take place.

Coetzee said: “The Mogalakwena Municipality requires duplicate documentation for registration, while all the documents are in the possession of the municipality when dealerships were created on the Enatis database system. This is causing unnecessary pressure on businesses and public and a breach of confidentiality.

“This is not only a huge impact on the environment but also a economic meltdown for this local municipality.”

According to the DA, the main aim of motor dealers and licencing services within the municipal area is to deliver services to the community.

“The Department of Transport Provincial’s admin rules are unreasonable and requirements are making it impossible to render these services. This seems to be only applicable to Mogalakwena Municipality and not surrounding or other authorities nationally,” according to Coetzee.

The DA requested that the official statuary guidelines and the criteria set for registering authorities for national and provincial authorities be forwarded to Mogalakwena Municipality, so that all stakeholders can be duly informed in this regard.

This will reportedly ensure that there is a unity in these services nationally.

Licensing officials also requested a meeting between the Department of Provincial Roads and Transport and the local dealerships in order to address all their issues directly so that a way forward and possible solutions could be discussed. Coetzee states that the process of arranging the above meeting is being delayed by the non-commitment of the provincial department.

She says dealers will hopefully be informed of the details of this important meeting soon.

Coetzee also questions the continuous changing of guidelines for certification of documentation for authorisation by the Law Administration Office.

She also asks why letters for estate documents issued by the Magistrate’s and High Court is not recognised by the office of the provincial department.

A few dealerships in Mokopane that want to stay anonymous acknowledged the difficulties they have registering vehicles, and that the costs were enormous.

Marcus Mthombeni, Manager of Traffic and Emergency Services at Mogalakwena Municipality told Bosveld the complaints were raised with the Limpopo Department of Transport.

“We are waiting for a finalised date for the next meeting from the Department of Transport.

“All relevant departments and Dealer Principals will be informed of this date as soon as we received it.”

According to Mthombeni, the Licencing Department complies with the directive of the department of transport. “We are not an individual department and cannot operate as it suits us.”

Comment from the provincial department had not yet been received by the time of going to print.

redaksie.bosvelder@nmgroup.co.za