Turnaround strategy for licensing department
Cards will be increased from 100 to 150 per day.
AFTER many complaints about bad customer service at the licensing department, Hibiscus Coast Municipality has implemented a turnaround strategy plan in the hope of improving things.
At a council meeting held at the HCM council chambers on Tuesday, the head of department for licensing, Sibusiso Nzimande, presented the strategy to council.
Mr Nzimande said one of the challenges faced by the department is the increasing population within HCM. He added that the introduction of the driver’s licence renewals in 1998 had added more strain on the department.
“According to the 2011 census the local population had increased dramatically. This has resulted in failure to cope with the volume of documents, compounded by the fact that the office building is cramped and there is a shortage of equipment,” he added.
He explained that they tried to resolve the issue by introducing the card system, to avoid having people waiting in queues from early morning only to be told in the afternoon that the office was closing and they could not be assisted. He added that they have decided to increase the number of cards from 100 to 150 people each day.
Other developments will included decentralising services by installing Live Capturing Units (LCU) and the Electronic National Information System (eNatis) in Hibberdene, Margate and Gamalakhe for licence renewals.
As part of the strategy to improve, the municipality will send two staff members to the department of transport to be trained on eNatis for a period of two months.
