Licencing: Hurry up and wait

Video

GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Hours spent waiting in long lines at the Vehicle Licencing Department are driving Georgians up the wall.

According to a source who is a regular visitor to the department, and who was there on Tuesday when the George Herald popped in, it is not that the staff are unfit to do the job, but rather the shortage of staff that leads to endless queues and people having to return the following day.

"The staff are friendly and efficient, but their workload is obviously too much for them. Something has to be done to alleviate their workload. Today [Tuesday 10 December] there were two people at registrations, two at renewals and two at the information desk. Something has to be done. I've been sitting here since 11:00 and it's nearly 15:00 now," he said.

He eventually left the building shortly before 17:00 that afternoon.

The waiting area inside the vehicle licensing department on Tuesday afternoon at 14:30.

Sharon Willer from Heather Park was at the licensing office at 06:45 on Tuesday morning to find herself fourth in the queue. By 08:00 there were nearly 60 people waiting in line for the doors to open. "If you don't come this early, you have to wait hours before anyone helps you. Hurry up and wait," she said.

Wilderness business owner Chris Leggatt had to return five times to have his vehicle license renewed. "This is ridiculous. I'm running a business and can't spend my entire day, or by now nearly a week, trying to renew my license. I do feel the shortfall is on the side of the municipality and not on the staff at the licensing department. Essentially the skeleton staff are doing the best they can," he said.

For many other people this was also the fourth or fifth time they had to return to the office. "I eventually got helped after more than two hours just to be told that I was missing a form," a man told the George Herald as he was leaving the building.

Watch a video below:

Some light at the end of the tunnel
In response to an enquiry to the municipality, communications manager Chantel Edwards-Klose said the licencing office acknowledges the fact that the number of applications have grown exponentially over the last year.

"Provision has been made for the staff compliment to be increased and currently three additional temporary staff members have been appointed to assist. The Department Protection Services is in the process of appointing a further three temporary cashiers to address the increased client volumes.

"The office is also open every second Saturday for those who are not able to do their transactions during the week," she said.

At 08:00 on Tuesday morning some of these people have already been standing in a queue outside the door for longer than an hour to make sure they would be helped before closing time.

Load shedding slows down traffic
During load shedding the offices are unable to process any transactions, but according to Edwards-Klose, there are plans to purchase a generator in the next financial year.

"The offices are not able to process transactions during load shedding and will be closed for the duration. Signage will always be placed on the door. The public is welcome to contact the offices on 044 801 9310/11 to confirm."

The queue on Monday afternoon.