Volunteering for Hunger Games would be less stressful than the traffic department

So, you’ve finally made your way past the Hunger Games lottery-style battle royale that the traffic department calls a system and you’ve got yourself an appointment to renew your driver’s licence? Congratulations!

However, your elation at finally seeing a semi-functional government system is short lived and you begin to wonder
what lies in wait…

That is the position that I and many other South African drivers found ourselves in after finally finding an appointment slot at a location that was not two hours outside Johannesburg.

We make up the lucky few who either logged on to the National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) and struggled with the website before finally wrangling an appointment.

As per my booking confirmation, I arrived an hour earlier at the Kempton Park licensing department, only to be told to find a spot to wait among a large group of other people waiting for their names to be called.

After close to two hours of scrolling through my phone and filling out my pre-printed driver’s licence application to
pass the time, my name was called along with the names of some other people.

“Go get an eye test!” we were told by a licensing official before she disappeared back into the building.

Due to the fact that I was instructed to arrive early, I assumed this part would take a while, but it did not. What ended up wasting the most time was the long wait to pay after it was determined that my eyesight would not endanger other drivers.

I spent yet another two hours simply waiting to hand R228 over to someone in an exchange for a receipt that confirms that my licence would be ready in about eight weeks.

So, yes, my fellow South African, that is what you may have to contend with in an effort to be a law-abiding citizen ahead of the impending 31 August deadline to renew your licence.

My advice? Print the application form from the eNaTIS website and fill it out ahead of time, have a copy of your ID card with you, take some proof of residence documents along just in case and have your processing
fee with you in cash.

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Having my cash on me came in handy when the officials decided to give priority to clients who weren’t paying with their bank cards and I was able to shave hours off my wait time and get back to being a functioning member of society.

Most advisories claim that four black and white ID photographs are a must, however, I ended up not needing them as the department took a horrendous photo on site.

It is unclear whether this is the case at other traffic departments but I would advise having the photos just in case you need them.

– kaundas@citizen.co.za