REPORTS that KZN motorists will, as of 2018, be expected to pay a so-called transaction fee of R72 when renewing their vehicle licences is simply more bad news as people struggle during increasingly difficult economic times.
The increase, announced last week by the National Transport Minister, comes as motorists in the province already pay more than those living in the other eight provinces.
The DA regards the current biased system as unacceptable while the licence fee and the transaction fee are exorbitant and prohibitive.
The question that we expect KZN Transport MEC, Mxolosi Kaunda, to answer is this – what exactly are KZN’s motorists paying for?
Certainly it is not for service delivery when people are standing in queues for six hours and more to renew their vehicle licences at the province’s Motor Licensing Bureaus.
It also cannot be for be for good roads when there are still so many potholes, unkempt verges and poor signage all over our province.
And it is most definitely not for proper law-enforcement.
The sheer number of deaths on our province’s roads tells us this.
The reality is that KZN motorists have been paying more for licences than those in other provinces for years.
The DA views the move as yet another thinly-veiled initiative by the ANC-led provincial government, aimed at raising revenue to plug the ever- increasing gaping hole in the province’s fiscus due to financial mismanagement and corruption.
The current unjust licensing system must come to an end.
The DA will insist that MEC Kaunda explain what warrants KZN’s spiralling licence fees.
Rafeek Shah, MPL
DA KZN Spokesperson on Transport
