Dying diggers of Namaqualand need saving
23 October 2018
Release: immediate
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is reiterating our call on the MEC of Transport, Safety and Liaison, Lebogang Motlhaping, to urgently address service delivery gaps in the issuing of Motor Vehicle Licenses (MVL) in the province.
This comes after Upington residents, who had spent the better part of the day queuing to renew their MVL’s at the local post office, complained that they were forced to wait even longer while the single administrator who is dealing with the licenses, took her lunch break.
This especially frustrated working people, who wanted to use their lunch break to get their licenses renewed.
Since the South Africa Post Office has been roped in to issue MVL renewals, complaints relating to poor service delivery in terms of license renewals have escalated.
The Department of Transport urgently needs to review the current system for MVL renewals.
Motor vehicle licenses are the main revenue source of the province. Due to delays in the roll out of MVL renewal function to SAPO sites, there was significant under-collection in 2017/2018. At the same time, a reply to a parliamentary question earlier this year, revealed that municipalities owed the department close to R140 million, for outstanding payments in terms of MVL’s.
The department therefore cannot afford to allow the new process to further hamper much needed revenue collection.
It also cannot sit back and watch as the processes eats into the valuable time of residents, who are dependent on their MVL’s to allow them to get to work, take their children to school and to seek health care.
The DA will write to Motlhaping, asking that he initiates urgent discussions with the post office on a national level to resolve licensing backlogs in the province and to ensure that there are enough work stations and staff at Upington post office, as well as all other post offices in the Northern Cape, to streamline service delivery and minimize frustrations and waiting periods.
Only change under a DA-led government will ensure that post office services are efficient and do not add to the daily struggles that people must endure.
Media Enquiries:
Andrew Louw
DA Northern Cape Premier Candidate
082 383 6914
Shelley De Witt
Researcher
082 847 1387
Related posts