MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Chaos at Korsten Drivers’ License Testing Centre

By

Dear MyPE

The crisis at the Korsten Drivers’ License Testing Centre in Port Elizabeth is causing endless disruption to the lives of the long-suffering residents of Nelson Mandela Bay, placing them in danger and negatively impacting their finances.

All of this can be easily avoided if the ANC-led Coalition of Corruption stops dragging its feet to ensure that the Motherwell Traffic and Licensing Centre becomes operational as soon as possible.

Today, 21 October 2020, I was joined by DA EC Shadow MEC for Transport, Marshall von Buchenroder, MPL, and DA Nelson Mandela Bay Spokesperson for Safety and Security, Cllr John Best, in conducting an oversight inspection at the Centre in Korsten. (see pictures here, here and here)

We found desperate people queuing outside the building to renew their drivers’ licenses or make appointments for learners’ licenses – some of which had arrived as early as 03:00 – in the hope of assistance.

Residents told us how they had been waiting for three days, returning to queue every morning, and had still not been assisted. Some told of being threatened and targeted by criminal elements while standing in the queue.

Many have had to fork out much-needed money to travel from areas such as Motherwell and surrounds, to the Centres in Korsten and Uitenhage, just to return empty-handed after queuing for hours without assistance.

The buildings at the Motherwell Centre are now complete, but due to the failures, and lack of will, of the ANC-led Coalition of Corruption the Municipal Standing Committee for Corporate Services has not met, and as such has not approved the organogram for the Motherwell Centre. The organogram can, therefore, not be presented to Council for urgent approval.

The National Department of Transport will only accredit the Centre and supply the computer equipment needed to operationalise it once the organogram has been approved by Council

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) must also expedite the implementation of the online booking system in Nelson Mandela Bay. Currently, only one telephone number is available, and this does not function optimally.

There is currently a huge increase in demand for traffic licensing services, partly due to the backlog created during the Covid-19 Lockdown. As a result, all bookings are full till mid-December.

The Motherwell Centre will, therefore, relieve a lot of pressure being experienced by the Centres in Korsten and Uitenhage.

I have spoken to the Acting City Manager and have requested him to intervene by ensuring that the working days and hours at the Korsten Centre are extended, and that money is made available to pay related overtime costs.

Furthermore, I have instructed Mr Von Buchenroder to contact the Provincial Director of traffic, to request that the Centre be open seven days per week and that it only closes its doors at 17:00.

He will also petition the Minister of Transport to ensure an extension for the renewal period for drivers and learners licenses.

Cllr Best is also continuously engaging with the Municipality to ensure that the Motherwell Centre is made operational as soon as possible.

During the DA and its coalition partners’ two years in government, resources were made available and the Motherwell Centre was completed and set to be operational by December 2018, but this Coalition of Corruption did not see this issue as a priority.

The DA will not stand by and watch the people of our City suffer. Together we can fix this mess and take Nelson Mandela Bay forward – we have done it before, and we will do it again.

Regards

Cllr Nqaba Bhanga
DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader and NMB Mayoral Candidate

The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.