Oudtshoorn, 21 February 2022 – The council of the greater Oudtshoorn Municipality held an information session with the officials of the traffic department and management on the way forward with regards to the shortage of personnel due to the arrests that were made by the South African Police Services and the Provincial Department of Transport at the traffic department.
While management was not aware of any investigation, their will however give support to the law enforcement entities through their investigation. The acting municipal manager, Walter Hendricks, visited the traffic department to see if the officials will be able to render services to the public, taking into consideration the traumatic experience that officials went through.
After his visit, a decision was made to close the traffic department on Monday, 21 February 2022, and Tuesday, 22 February 2022, and reopen on Wednesday, 23 February 2022. The officials of the traffic department will go through internal trauma counseling to support them through this whole ordeal.
The impact of this situation on the municipality and the traffic department was discussed by the council as to how to still render service delivery to the public while facing staff challenges.
The following services will be impacted until further plans are being finalized:
- Services for Learners and drivers licenses, as well as renewal of drivers licenses will be scaled down due to personnel shortages
- The traffic department will be closed on Saturdays until further notice.
- All appointments for Monday and Tuesday will be rescheduled and clients will be informed by the traffic department of changed dates and times to the public in due cause.
For faster services for the renewal of driver’s licenses, Traffic Services Manager: Pat Jordaan, is asking the public to please make use of the online license renewal option by visiting the following link https://online.natis.gov.za/#/. This can only be done if vehicle licenses have not yet expired and the person must be in the possession of a driving license card to be able to register.