New driver’s licence applicants may have to wait longer than eight weeks for their new documents due to a huge backlog at the company that makes the cards.
New driver’s licence applicants may have to wait longer than eight weeks for their new documents due to a huge backlog at the company that makes the cards.
According to the , Prodiba, which manufactures the cards, has a backlog of 128 000 applications. Prodiba said it was processing about 14 600 cards a day by working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is up from 7 400 cards a day previously.
Lisa Mangcu, manager of road traffic operation police at the Department of Transport, said the rush of applications last week caused the backlog.
“However, we are still trying to stick to the original waiting period of eight weeks before people get their card licences,” he said. A temporary licence is valid for six months.
Fears continue that there will be another rush of applications towards the end of April. The reported that only 20 people applied for their licences at Green Point traffic department between 10am and noon on Monday.
“At this rate, we predict a repeat of the chaos that we saw last week. We must process almost 4 000 applications a day if we want to meet the deadline,” said the Western Cape director for roads administration.
Meanwhile, according to , the long queues for the new licence last week may have cost the country millions in productivity.
SA Chamber of Business economist Richard Downing said people gave up a lot of time to stand in queue to change their licences. He said this then affected businesses, which had to employ extra staff to cover the situation.
