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THE Nelson Mandela Bay’s transport department have set plans in place to prioritise the backlog of driving licences in the metro.
This comes after a nationwide delay occurred in the printing of new licence cards last year. According to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality director of traffic and licensing, Warren Prins, the employees have already started processing 2 500 cards (captured and filed) on January 19.
“Currently 324 000 cards are yet to be printed and the department will do its best to assist,” Prins said.
The traffic department in the metro will assist the public every Saturday in collecting their drivers’ licence cards from 07:00 to 12:00 in Korsten and Uitenhage.
Prins added, “We urge the public to contact the call centres to find out if their cards have arrived. They can contact Korsten’s call centre on 041 506 1100 and Uitenhage’s on 041 995 2737. Other notifications will be sent out via post.
No applications for the renewal of driving licences will, however, be done on Saturdays and the offices will only be open for the collection of licences.
The acting manager of driving licences will visit the Eastern Cape Department of Transport to discuss the issue of accommodating licence renewals that were applied for prior to the expiry date.
“The acting manager still has to decide whether a temporary licence will be issued to drivers who have applied for renewal of driving licences before it expired, and who are still in possession of their receipt. The PrDP (Professional Driving Permit) backlog has also been addressed,” Prins said.
However, drivers who have received fines for expired cards, are urged to submit a representation to the traffic court section, together with a receipt of the application.
Prins further explained, “The traffic department cannot give anyone permission or an officer instructions not to prosecute, hence the process of representation is there.”
Payment of traffic fines
The media release from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality published in the PE Express on January 9 – “Beware of third party traffic fine payment” – warned motorists to avoid paying their traffic fines through third parties as it could land them in sticky situations if they are caught at roadblocks.
According to Prins, the municipality has never appointed third parties to collect revenue on its behalf.
“We refer to third parties as a company that goes into contract with the municipality, for example a company that received a tender. However, we have not appointed such companies to collect any traffic fine revenue,” Prins said.
Traffic fines can be paid via payment portals, such as Shoprite and paymyfines, which are stated on infringement notices.
Prins added, “Companies such as Shoprite and Spar, are only ‘payment portals’ and do not fall under the umbrella of third parties.
“This is an easy payment option for the public, as payments are directly uploaded to the municipal account. It is also not necessary to fax payment receipts.”
However, residents should avoid paying their fines through the municipal website, as the system is not currently fully functional.
“We have asked our IT team to look into this matter and will notify the public as soon as the system is up and running.”
According to Prins, all fines have payment dates and payments will automatically be rejected if a fine has expired.
Prins urged the public to use the recently added e-mail address (traffic@mandelametro.gov.za) for all enquiries on traffic and licensing issues.
“All communication received through this e-mail address will be registered and attended to. If an email is directed at me, it will be forwarded to my e-mail address,” Prins said.
