From queueing for several hours in the morning to paying for spots at the front of the line and being “harassed” and “badgered”.
These are just some of the challenges that residents of Nelson Mandela Bay have to deal with when visiting the Drivers’ Licence Testing Centre in Korsten.
According to a Facebook post by Janine Meyburgh, people start arriving at approximately 03:00, although the office only opens at 08:00. She said that offers are made to people to go to the front of the queue as there are apparently spots “available”.
“My son was offered one of the spots for R200 and declined. He got so mad watching what was happening, while being pushed further back, that he started taking photos of the folk that were involved. I am not sure what law they are breaking, but it is extremely irritating watching, when we arrived at 04:30,” Meyburgh said.
“Members of the public are badgered and harassed, and car guards, who profited quite handsomely in the morning, drink in public at lunch time, urinate on the pavement and litter without thinking about the fact that we are living in sensitive times with COVID-19 around,” she added.
“The entire process took us nine hours to make a drivers’ licence booking. Time is important to everyone, not just the select few that want to try to get a faster result.”
“We met a guy queueing for day three for his PDP licence. I am not certain why it had taken three days of his life to not get into the door of the traffic department,” Meyburgh explained.
“The more disorganised the department, currently operating on skeleton staff, the more the public is at the mercy of the very well organised folk who are making a quick buck out of those willing to try to cheat the system, while also cheating their fellow citizens.
“The traffic department falls under the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. We cannot treat our citizens in this manner; many are elderly too.
“You need to start caring about the members of the public waiting for service.”
Municipal spokesperson, Mamela Ndamase, said that the long queues and delays were due to COVID-19 regulations in terms of the number of people allowed within the centre, including staff.
The Korsten Centre currently operates from Monday to Friday from 07:00 to 15:00 and on Saturdays from 07:00 to 13:00, while the Uitenhage Centre only operates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“A request was made to the provincial Department of Roads and Transport to extend the Korsten Centre’s weekday operating hours. In addition, the request included extending Saturday’s hours and also operating on Sundays to accommodate the backlog, but the request was ruled out,” Ndamase said.
Regarding the telephonic booking system, she mentioned that the telephone system installed for licence and professional driving permit renewals at the Korsten Centre did not indicate when the operators were busy on a call and instead continued to ring.
“Members of the public often think that the continuous ringing of the telephone indicates that it is not being answered.”
According to Ndamase, the Motherwell Centre is basically complete.
“The project was delayed due to COVID-19, preventing the contractors from completing the finishing touches.
“The Eastern Cape Department of Transport will do a facility inspection in terms of readiness so that equipment can be delivered,” she added.
“The centre will be operational once the work is completed and we receive approval from the provincial and national departments of transport.”
Meanwhile, DA provincial leader, Nqaba Bhanga, recently paid a visit to the centre and said that there was currently a huge increase in demand for traffic licencing services, partly due to the backlog created during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“As a result, all bookings are full until mid-December. The Motherwell Centre will, therefore, relieve a lot of pressure being experienced by the centres in Korsten and Uitenhage.”
Bhanga added that he has requested the acting city manager to intervene by ensuring that the working days and hours at the Korsten Centre were extended and money was made available to pay related overtime costs.
Numerous attempts to get comment from the Korsten Centre were unsuccessful.
