NO SERVICE: LICENCES UNOBTAINABLE AT TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT
People turned away at last minute due to ‘internal glitches’
Employees brought services to a halt for two consecutive days at the licensing division of the Komani traffic department last week, causing inconvenience to driving schools and residents.
K53 Driving School owner Louis Ruiters said they were informed that the department would not conduct tests and residents and people from out of town were told to go home.
“This was concerning for us businesspeople because we were not informed about the situation. We have clients that came from afar, out-of-town people who spent money to travel with the knowledge that they would write or test for their licences, only to return home without achieving anything. I don’t think that is proper business conduct.”
Ruiters indicated it was not the first time this has happened.
“We experienced it in January, as well as in 2018, and the problem is that they do not communicate with the businesspeople. Our clients come to us with the expectation that they will be tested and we must make excuses on behalf of the traffic department or the municipality for reasons we do not even know. We have employees we need to pay – this is killing our businesses.”
Bhanqo Driving School owner Sandi Nkebana said this was a great loss for them as business owners as operations were brought to a standstill.
“I had people who were supposed to test but we had to postpone. The same applies to other driving schools, which had to do the same.”
“We have clients who came from as far as Cape Town who had to return without anything. Some of our clients’ learner’s licences expire soon. This has a negative impact on us as businesspeople,” Mzantsi Driving School owner Tshidi Pelesa added. Nomakhwezi Bhetya, who was scheduled to write her learner’s licence, said it would be challenging for her to write again due to her work arrangements.
“If they had told us the previous day that no one would be allowed to write, we would not have bothered to come. We spent hours sitting there with no one saying anything.
“We had to enquire and no one seemed to have information. We were later told that we would not write and they just said sorry. They took our receipts and said they would get back to us,” she said.
Manager in the office of Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality executive mayor, Butshe Lali, confirmed that the situation was not a strike, but due to “internal glitches” which called for an internal engagement between management and staff members in the licensing section to resolve issues around working conditions.
“When this happened, it was not anticipated that it would cause interruption in the service provided which is something that should have been sorted out.
“Had we known, we would have communicated with the people who provide the services. Things are now back to normal and I would like to put it on record that this was not registered as a strike.”
He added that the public safety directorate was devising a plan that would accommodate people who could not write their learner’s test or test for their driver’s licences because of this matter.
“We recognise that a service we render was disrupted and we will now have to communicate measures that will be put in place to remedy the situation,” Lali concluded.