Licensing department and home affairs close for parties and union meetings

Randburg Licensing department has come under fire from residents who claim that the entity has closed its doors on several occasions during the last two weeks.

“I took leave so I could go to the licensing department to renew my licence and then go to home affairs for a new ID document,” explained Jeff Morgan.

“When I got to the doors, security guards outside told me that the department was closed because they had no power.”

When Morgan reached the parking area, however, a car guard told him that the department was closed for the day because all the employees apparently needed to attend union meetings.

He then went to the Department of Home Affairs, only to be told that the power there was off too.

“How is it possible for both departments to coincidentally have load-shedding on the same day that the union meetings are held?” asked Morgan.

“As public service providers, are they not supposed to notify the public when they have meetings to attend?”

Another Randburg resident, Annette Steenekamp, also had an unfruitful visit to the licensing department on 30 April.

“We got there at 11am, and after queuing for half an hour, security at the door told us that we had to wait outside because the department was going to have a farewell for a retiring employee,” complained Steenekamp.

“We saw people move in and out of the building with plates of food while we waited in the hot sun for them to finish. They didn’t even provide chairs for the elderly waiting outside in the queue.”

Upon investigation later that day, an employee at the department denied the claims of the department having a social event during business hours. The employee stated that they were forced to close the doors and only take in small groups. When asked why, the employee simply asked, “Did you see the queue?”

Department manager Charles Van den Heever has responded by asking the public to be more patient because the department is under severe strain.

“We currently only have five machines to process applications through, and we can only process 350 applications maximum per day.”

Van den Heever also denied that any social events had taken place on 30 April.

“We were full beyond capacity that day. In order for us to accommodate as many applicants as possible, we had to take in smaller groups, one group at a time, and asked the rest to wait outside.

” We simply do not have the space in the offices for everyone to come in and sit while they wait. It’s a safety precaution.”