MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mossel Bay Advertiser published a notice in last week's edition and on its website, asking if members of the public had had any delays in renewing their driver's licences.
The Advertiser asked how they had found the experience. This was after there had been advisories about delays in driver's licence renewals.
The Mossel Bay Muncipality noted two weeks ago that system issues and equipment problems that result in driver's licence renewals taking longer than usual had been reported to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).
"Only one of the Live Enrolment Units (LEU) is operational, while the Natis system is also very slow, leading to delays," the municipality noted.
"Mossel Bay Municipality apologises for circumstances beyond our control and requests the community to show patience."
A Mossel Bay resident, Beyers Cronje told the Advertiser: "The major issue I have is that they [Mossel Bay Traffic Department] do not accept an official optometrist eye test report. In Gauteng I believe they do accept these.
Optometrist
"The local Mossel Bay eye test equipment is not calibrated correctly. My optometrist told me she gets countless customers that have failed the eye test at the Traffic Department, only to test perfectly fine at a proper optometrist setup.
"So the question is, why does the local department not accept professional optometrist eye test reports? Surely that should help with the long queues as well?"
The Advertiser approached the municipality for comment on the eye test issue. A spokesperson said: "Die munisipaliteit gaan geen kommentaar lewer op die stadium nie. Geen klagte is ingedien by die munisipale bestuurder of by die betrokke afdeling nie, en kon die saak se geldigheid dus nie ondersoek word nie."
Another Mossel Bay resident said she failed her eye test at the Traffic Department. She then went to her optometrist, who tested her and said her sight was good. She took the optometrist report to the Traffic Department in Mossel Bay and was then able to renew her licence.
She told the Advertiser that Mossel Bay residents she had spoken to after her experience had told her that it was known that one should go to one's optometrist and take the test results to the Traffic Department in order to renew one's driver's licence, because for some reason, although their eyesight was good, they failed the eye test at the Traffic Department.
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