Frustrated, George:
As a member of the George public it was always a pleasure doing business with the George Vehicle Licensing Department with the service was always excellent and efficient. This was definitely the "Flagship" department of George Municipality.
Approximately a month ago this department crashed from Hero to Zero. The waiting lines got longer and longer. E-mail assistance is non-existent; I was told by the Acting Head of Department she does not have time to spend on e-mails and doesn't have access - very peculiar for a technology driven society? If you spent less than an hour at these offices, you must have queued from before 7 in the morning, or some miracle happened.
On Monday, 8 July 2019, only two cashiers were open to serve both renewals and transfer of vehicles.
The cashier doing the transfers helped a Dealership Representative thus the rest of the public had to wait and wait. One lady said she was after 2 hours still number 15 in the waiting line. Staff were standing around talking, walking up and down or hiding behind the pillars and chatting to the Enquiries Clerk who was supposed to serve the public.
I contacted the Director of Protection Services who informed me the Acting Traffic Chief will contact me and address this matter. Mr Junies explained that they are addressing these issues but are experiencing staff shortages and staff acting in senior positions have not received the appropriate training.
Does the Human Resource Department do contingency planning at all?
What is the plan of action, we all wonder? Mr Junies and his traffic colleagues walk through the offices, chat to staff, again keeping them out of work, BUT ignores the public, not wanting to listen to their complaints.
Municipal Manager Trevor Botha responds:
The George Municipality acknowledges the frustrations surrounding current challenges at the traffic department and commits to resolving the issues as soon as possible. The above-average growth in George has led to a substantial increase of vehicles within the municipal area as well as vehicle-related transactions. In order to expedite turnaround times with transactions and render a better service, the municipality has commenced with a recruitment and selection process to capacitate the traffic department. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank the public in advance for their patience as we make a concerted effort to address matters within the resources available to us.
