Time to act and fix the mess, Mr Fix

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula: You’ll forgive us if we expect only more words of blather today as you announce your grand plan to sort out the mess which is our country’s licensing system.

Your own Twitter “handle” Mr Fix is mockingly ironic, given that, under your stewardship, the department of transport has gone from bad to worse.

Far from our trains running on time, many don’t run at all, because the rail infrastructure has been dismantled and carted off under your very nose.

Yet you talk of grandiose ideas, like doing feasibility studies for a high speed rail link between Gauteng and Durban.

Our roads are a crumbling mess in most parts of the country.

You still have not given us an answer on e-tolls. Yet, it is the unadulterated disaster of the licensing system which is perhaps your biggest failing. Sure, you didn’t cause it but you have done nothing in your time in office to correct it.

There is an ineffective online booking system (some who have used it would call it a joke), there are broken eye testing and fingerprinting machines, while corruption and poor service from our “civil servants” are the ingredients of a toxic cesspool.

Once you’ve fixed that (we’ll wait), you could also address the issue of why driver’s licences especially have to be renewed every five years, with a new card every time.

What about making the period 10 years? What about being really progressive and incorporating the driver’s licence into a smartphone app?

There are so many things you could do, Minister, but we fear you won’t. Many quick-win solutions out there will not enable the corruption ecosystem to grow and make more ANC cadres fat.

This mess directly affects people’s ability to do their jobs and hence will hit the economy. So fix it, Mr Fix…