As you leave your vehicle and walk towards the entrance of the offices, the same people in the vests and several others immediate approach you. “ID photos?” some would ask, “Forms? Questions, what queues” other would say. One by one they proposition people that have business at the licensing department and their offers to stand in the long queue for a fee seems tempting, however the head at the licensing department warns that there is a downside to this.
According to Mr Koos Lumbcher, there has been cases in the past were thefts and scams have occurred. Apparently disgruntled people have complained to the licensing office and is holding them responsible, when one of these deals do not work out they way they were told it would.
“They do not work for us, I have asked them to leave many times and they become aggressive and rude.” It seems they can at times hinder the process in many ways, as people have experienced that they cut into lines for example. There have been cases opened in the past were cell phones or wallets were stolen at the licensing offices, however according to Const David Ratau there have been no cases of theft at the licensing office for several months.
“It could get out of hand if some one loses their temper with them…Don’t entertain these guys,” warns Mr Lumbcher again. According to him, they target the elderly who go there for license renewals. Const Ratau recalls situations in the past were people would wait in line and offer their spot in the line to someone else for a fee, usually for R100. People who are in a hurry would pay but only to find out they were waiting in the wrong queue. They were charging people money under false pretences. There has not been a recent case of this happening though.
