Service delivery in KwaZulu-Natal faces a crisis as key licensing centres, including the Rossburgh Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC), shut down over unpaid property rates, leaving motorists stranded and facing fines. Service delivery has been severely hampered in KwaZulu-Natal after key licensing and testing centres, including Rossburgh and Umdloti, were forced to close due to disconnected water and electricity supplies. This disruption, which left a Durban motorist needing to change vehicle ownership turned away from two centres on Tuesday, is allegedly linked to outstanding property rates owed by the provincial Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).
Just days before the end-of-November deadline to migrate to the new number plate system, Transport MEC Siboniso Duma alerted the public to the disconnection. Duma confirmed that while the Transport Department had settled its own utility bills, the centres were allegedly shut down over outstanding rates, a responsibility that falls with the DPWI as the property manager and landlord. Duma stated on Friday that the Durban region’s centres were “badly affected”, despite the head of the Transport Department having engaged with the head of Public Works.
“Members of the public and staff have been severely affected. And service delivery is badly affected,” he stated. Duma noted that while the number of motorists yet to migrate to the new system is now far below the initial figure of 19,000, those who missed the deadline are now being fined “across the province by RTI and Traffic departments across all municipalities”.
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In an effort to set the record straight, DPWI spokesperson Steve Bhengu clarified the department’s position. Bhengu explained that the KZN Public Works and Infrastructure Department is thecustodian of 10,067 government properties, which house various departments, located across all 54 municipalities. custodian of 10,067 government properties, which house various departments, located across all 54 municipalities.
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