City takes over duties of national agencies following vehicle licence disc delays

27 January 2016

The City of Cape Town has taken over the responsibility of sending out vehicle licence disc renewal notices for the City’s vehicle owners following the failure of the responsible national agencies to do so since October 2015. This failure has had a severely negative impact on City operations and has led to long queues at municipal offices and substantial online application backlogs. Read more below:

Because the responsible national agencies continue to fail to issue reminders to motorists, the City of Cape Town has obtained the list of the City’s vehicle owners whose discs are expiring on 31 January 2016 and are renewable by 22 February 2016, and will start to issue these renewal notices from this week.

The City has also met with the South African Post Office to get an undertaking that the delivery of the notices should not be delayed.

The renewal notices will contain the date for renewal, the amount due, documents required for proof of address, and other relevant information.

Motorists whose vehicle licence discs expire by 29 February 2016 and are renewable by 22 March 2016 will also be receiving renewal notices during the first two weeks of February 2016.

The City is a registering authority on behalf of the Western Cape Government (WCG). On 7 October 2015, notice was received from the WCG that the challenges that arose from the National Department of Transport’s (DOT) transfer of the Electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) had not been resolved and that further renewal notices, system support, maintenance and the acquisition of additional eNaTIS equipment would be affected.

The City is unable to increase the number of eNaTIS terminals and capacity at our offices as a result of this impasse as this must be sourced and installed via the RTMC and its service provider.

This has caused delays at our municipal offices as we have had to physically look up every amount payable in addition to implementing new national proof of residence requirements for vehicle registration services. Amounts payable are complicated to work out as this is calculated on vehicle weight: the heavier the vehicle the more it costs.

Despite our very best efforts, customers have regrettably experienced long queues at our centres.

Staff employed to manage our online services have been deployed to many of the busiest centres. These staff then deal with the online applications and queries in the evenings.

The City and the Western Cape Government have therefore agreed to take over the responsibility of sending the reminder notices for the City’s vehicle owners as the current situation is completely contrary to the value that we place on being an efficient and service-oriented administration.

We thank members of the public for their patience and apologise again for the inconvenience that has been experienced over the past few months. We trust that this action will go a long way towards eradicating the online application backlog and increasing the turnaround time at our municipal centres.

Other mitigating measures that have already been put in place include:

- serving clients before the official opening time of our offices of 08:00 where possible

- remaining open until the last person in the queue has been attended to

- having staff work overtime to increase the capacity to serve customers

- using Expanded Public Works Programme staff for tasks such as making photocopies. We do, however, urge customers to bring their own photocopies of the required documentation if possible in order to speed up the turnaround time

Customers can minimise the risk of standing in long queues by applying for their vehicle licence online by visiting www.capetown.gov.za/eservices

Customers are advised to go to the Motor Vehicle Licencing tab, then click on ‘register’ (for new applicants) or ‘login’ (for those already registered for e-Services). Once registered, customers must activate the Motor Vehicle Licencing Service and complete the online form. Customers will be required to upload the necessary documents.

For enquiries, residents should please e-mail: [email protected]

Vehicle owners are reminded that proof of address is required when renewing vehicle licence discs. For a full list of acceptable documents that constitute proof, residents can visit the Western Cape Government website: www.westerncape.gov.za/tpw

Statement issued by Alderman Ian Neilson, Acting Executive Mayor, City of Cape Town, 27 January 2016