Go back to the old system unless you can teach staff on how it works!
Whoever decided on the new appointment system for drivers licenses made on major error of judgement, he or she forgot to teach the people who work with it on how it works. The concept really is quite simple but seemingly not so for the existing staff.
Arriving well in time to ensure all paperwork was correct for my 10:00am ‘appointment’, I took my place in the waiting area, the old council chamber, as instructed, waiting my turn to be called. Well the call never came. After a two hour wait with no call and no explanation from staff I made my way to the test room. The crowd in and around this office made it almost impossible to get into the office but once inside I noticed a queue of about six people had formed. Enquiring of them what their appointment times were the answers came back 09:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00.
Trying to get an answer as why the 10:00 appointments were told to wait in the waiting room whilst everyone else could simply join the queue was the highlight of the day. The old guy manning the reception desk was so caught up in stapling a photograph to an application he could not be interrupted to answer a simple question. And then it happened, the stapler ran out of staples.
From previous experiences with similar departments I decided to time him on my cell phone to see how long it took him to reload the stapler. Without going into too much detail for if it could have been videoed it would have gone viral on both Facebook and You Tube for it took him almost 8 minutes from the time he ran out of staples to the time he finally stapled the form. A comedy if it was so pathetic.
My decision to give up my quest was simple when one testing official announced that he would going for lunch at 1:00pm. As it was now 12:30, 3 hours since I arrived and with a queue of six people ahead of me in spite of my earlier appointment time I made the decision to leave and give up on what had become a hopeless task.
The DA may have replaced the ANC but certainly they seem to have done little in training staff. On the other hand maybe the staff are inherited and are beyond training for they certainly show neither aptitude nor enthusiasm for what they get paid to do. In fact they are rude, arrogant, inefficient and disinterested.
Maybe there is an opportunity here to employ some school leavers who, one can be almost sure, that with a week’s training would be not only more efficient but certainly a lot more enthusiastic.
Please go back to the old system where you arrive and wait in a queue. The old Council chamber makes for an ideal waiting room. That people are allowed to crowd into the testing office seems ridiculous. Those undergoing testing surely deserve at least a modicum of privacy which surely cannot happen when the queue is literally breathing down their necks.
Worst part I now have to reschedule an appointment which will probably be in about a months’ time and then I will have to go through the circus again.
Note
Marianhill testing offices in Durban where I did my previous tests had three machines and I would suggest at any time at least 10 times more people than were present in Humansdorp yesterday. Humansdorp has two machines one of which doesn’t work when the guy manning it doesn’t feel like working. It never took three hours to get one’s license at Marianhill, three hours for nothing in Humansdorp
You could try a trip through to Joubertina or Hankey. Simple easy, efficient and friendly. In and out in an hour. And the road trip was great.
My friend went all the way through to Hankey last year….. and their Apparatus was out of order!!!!! Perhaps phone to check before you leave.
My husband & I had a very pleasant experience when we went for our appointment in November. The wait was minimal…the staff still behaved like tomorrow is another day and continually chatted to each other. The problem crept in when the machines would not do the fingerprints. We were told to call in a month’s time to check whether Bisho would use our old fingerprints. I phoned and phoned and phoned…eventually got told that the fingerprints were not acceptable and we had to come back to have these done. On enquiring about an appointment, I was told just to come in…no waiting!!!! What a farce!!! The staff still behaved as if they were on holiday, certainly no urgency in their manner to clear the queues. As in the article , the queue got longer and longer…I can’t stand for long for a medical reason, but I stood for an hour and more in the queue…I was ready to chuck!!! Eventually we were attended to, and we went through the process on the machines AGAIN, but no fingerprints!!!!!!!!!!!! What on earth was that about?????? So here we are three months later, with a receipt for paying for our new licence and an expired driver’s licence…I want to be stopped, and I want to spill the beans of the inefficiency of the Traffic Department. The mayoress was the one who implemented the appointment system, which actually is a great idea. The problem has come in because the machines are not working properly and the people who had to come back for ‘fingerprints’ were told to just come in! There should be appointments made for these as well…this is what is creating the problem. The next problem is training the staff who do not inform the people there what to do…they should have a queue like in a bank and then there would be no pushing and shoving. The staff manning the machines, should be trained in manners as well, one of them was shouting at my husband in Xhosa which he does not understand…it is just unacceptable! The mayoress should look into this. The staff are not easily identifiable either. They should have at least name tags with their designation. In my opinion, they need training to start with, then time management might be a good option as well. Most of the people who were in the queue with us, were business people having to take off work to do this necessary renewal. When this happened to us, I did comment on our Whatsapp group…SFB News Views Ideas…and the mayor’s husband responded saying that she would look into it…but obviously nothing has been done. This kind of thing is encouraging people not to renew their licences and running the risk of being fined. As a community, I feel we should petition the mayoress to look into this immediately and rectify the problems. What is everyone else’s opinion?
Thanks for the head’s up as I need to have my license renewed next month. Joubertina sounds interesting.
It got me wondering.
Calling it our “new DA Government” is clearly a misnomer if the same incompetent people are in place at the expense of people who want to work.
What has the DA actually done or achieved? My perception is ‘not much’.
In fact I can’t think of one thing positive in their favour. Roads, Services, Security, Healthcare.
On Security – we have lost the our best cop and crime is drastically on the rise.
I wonder if anybody is actually keeping a tally. I’d love to hear what people think?
Firstly lets be clear; this is NOT a drivers licence renewal; it is a money making racket thought up by the previous regime. All they do is an eye check and take fingerprints (they already have the fingerprints on record so what is the point?) What would happen if one went to an optometrist and passed the test, then made an appointment which the municipality did not keep, and then one recorded all this run around to present in court if one was ever caught for not having an up to date licence???
Must agree – My fingerprints have been the same, I would imagine, most of my life.
You can go to your optician for an eyetest…we always do that.
Ek gaan elke keer na ‘n oogkundige voor n lisensie, want ek moet in elk geval gaan. Dan neem ek die bewyse saam na die lisensiekantoor.
I had a 9h00 appointment yesterday – due to one machine being out of order I was finally seen at 10h00. I soon realised that the calling system was not operational so crowding into the office was a necessity. I stood my ground and refused to allow anyone with a later appointment to muscle in in front of me. My licence expires next week so I didn’t have an option. The staff are incompetent, arrogant, shout to each other incessantly and if they worked any slower they would be in reverse gear. The wielder of the stapler disappeared for a full 10 minutes while dealing with my paperwork and returned with a suspiciously alcoholic whiff on his breath! However, I have learnt that when dealing with government departments in this neck of the woods one must adopt a “smile and wave” attitude. I eventually escaped at 11h05 clutching my receipt and grateful that I won’t have to go through that process for another 5 years.
Try Home Affairs! My wife had to renew her passport, which will expire shortly. We arrived at 07.30, to find about 30 people ahead of us, queued for half an hour until opening, and three more times to get a number, complete the formalities and pay. Everyone had to stand in the same queue to get their number, whether to register births & deaths, apply for new ID, driving licence or passport, etc. Each time there was a delay of half an hour while the official disappeared. We eventually left after 4 hours. Apparently Port Elizabeth is worse. Just a little forethought by Home Affairs could have avoided much of this.
Could we perhaps ask for a response from the Municipality? Surely, it is very easy to ascertain what the situation is and react positively to it.
Let’s see if anyone in authority reads the post but I doubt they will do anything as it is just the way things are these days… lots of talk on service delivery, very little action.
I made a second attempt this morning and can assure you nothing has changed and chaos still reigns supreme with a queue still formed in the testing office (unacceptable so say nothing how hot the office is with so many people in it and probably the reason the test equipment isn’t working properly) with no particular reference to appointment times and the same rude, arrogant staff. Guess I will need to go elsewhere for my renewal as maybe they will have me marked and will fail me before even testing me. It has happened before I have been told.
We went last week for a booked appointment. It was a bit chaotic as the space was cramped (not their fault) & there was one woman who was so disinterested in her job BUT we were in & out of there (renewing a driver’s licence) in less than 45 minutes.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!
I use the Uitenhage traffic office, Home Affairs and SARS.
Found them all quick and efficient.
Were are the offices for licences in Uitenhage We are from JEffreysbay and not long this side
In Heugh St between Alexander and Church St. Heugh is the next road west of Main
5 jaar is verby en dis weer tyd. Dalk het die ou stelsel nie so sleg gewerk, waar mens ‘n nommer gekry het nie. As ek reg onthou kon daar so 50 mense per dag gehelp word. Ons het daardie dag een van die laaste nommers gekry en besluit om ‘n uur voor toemaaktyd terug te kom en sowaar, dit het goed gewerk. Meeste mense het selfone, vra iemand so uur voor jou om jou te bel as hy klaar is, het ek destyds gedink. As jy ver bly is dit ver terug ry, maar dis lekkerder by die huis. As jy die oogkundige se toetsbewyse het, dan is dit nog beter.
I have had the same experience as all the above – rude, arrogant, incompetent lazy staff. Total lack of communication as to procedures. Dirty office and waiting area. This is the same for home affairs, police, sars and municipality. NO ONE in these departments have the aptitude or training in customer service, their designated job or any work ethic, which is a huge problem everywhere in our country. One person complaining to the mayor here and there is not going to make much difference – what can she do to change this attitude and work ethic when it has been tolerated for the last 20 years. We need to brainstorm an action plan and do it. I’m so tired of this arrogant incompetence in the eastern cape it’s driving me insane (gauteng was a LITTLE bit better – and don’t have any experience of the other provinces – but compared to many overseas countries I have visited it’s not acceptable)
After three visits and all the above service described, I eventually got my temporary licence at an additional charge and a future appointment a month after my original visit. The staff told me they were too busy to deal with me!!I showed them a Road Traffic notice that stipulated that should I have applied before the expiry of my licence, then my current licence was valid for 3 months. As long as I had proof of application to show any official. I was told that notice no longer applied and noone knew about it although it had my full details and expiry date of my licence!! The problem is too that people are coming from Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and even East London to our Humansdorp offices!! Just as we have to to further afield. There is no longer a number system so it is a free for all and gets nasty. Apparently they no longer accept an eye test from elsewhere and only one machine to test and one for photos.
The enquiry person does not understand the process but hands you a green application form then tells you to go and fill out a white form. That is required if your change of address or particulars have changed but not otherwise. I was told to complete and present evidence of all details. I did this and was then told I didnt need the form by another person!! I thought it might be the way you proved your application if they signed the bottom of the NCP form. I was asked who served me when I complained and they do not give you names so no accountability. It must be absolutely terrible working there too in the crush and lack of training. They didnt want to serve someone I know from collecting her licence as too busy!!