Labour dispute causes massive licence backlog
The transport department has a backlog of 324‚000 drivers’ licence cards to print after delays caused by a labour dispute.
“Between July and December we received about a million card orders and have printed more than 700‚000 cards‚” said transport minister Blade Nzimande. He said the 324‚000 cards would be printed in the next three weeks.
Nzimande said he was monitoring a plan to recover production time lost during the dispute with the employees, who were contracted to the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA).
“To recover the lost production time‚ the DLCA has implemented a contingency plan to adhere to standard production practices and reduce the waiting period‚” Nzimande said.
The affected employees resumed duties in December, pending finalisation of the dispute, which was registered at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council.
The dispute occurred during the annual production maintenance period when production machines were serviced‚ the department said.
Nzimande said they had issued a directive to traffic authorities not to penalise motorists who complied with the prescripts of the application and renewal of their drivers’ licences but were not actually in possession of them.
“Where drivers have already been fined by traffic officers‚ they must apply for the revocation of enforcement order through the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA)‚” he said, adding that the form to be completed could be downloaded from www.aarto.gov.za.
Motorists who renewed their drivers’ licences three months before expiration were also exempt from being fined.
Nzimande apologised for the inconvenience. –