GEORGE NEWS - Hours spent waiting in long lines to renew vehicle licences at the Vehicle Licencing Department are driving Georgians up the wall.
When the George Herald popped in there on Tuesday 16 July just after 09:30, about 20 people were queuing to be served by only one official.
Jannie Jensen, one of the complainants who had phoned the newspaper earlier, said the situation is "absurd".
"Renewing one's licence should take a few minutes. Be prepared to sit there all day. There are old people standing in the line for hours. I have been there two or three times, but have given up. On Monday 15 July I went again. I was there for half an hour and in that time, it took 20 minutes for the official on duty to assist only one person who had a pile of renewals to do. I worked out how long it would take me to get to the front, realised I just did not have the time, and left without having achieved anything. A friend of mine who had also gone several times without accomplishing anything, yesterday got a R500 fine because his licence had expired. He is a businessman and does not have time to spend hours in a queue. Their system is ludicrous."
Jensen said it is sad that the licencing department is regressing instead of growing with the city.
Another ratepayer told journalist Michelle Pienaar that he had queued for four hours.
On the letters page, an anonymous reader complains about the time it took to renew his licence. He says one vehicle owner had indicated that after two hours, she was 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. What is the plan of action, we all wonder?" says the letter writer.
Municipal manager Trevor Botha's response was that above-average growth in George has led to a substantial increase in vehicles and vehicle-related transactions, but a recruitment process to capacitate the traffic department has been started. Read his full answer here.
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