UPDATE: Licensing Department offices have reopened
Johannesburg - Motorists and other people in Joburg were left frustrated on Monday after a strike by workers shut driver’s licensing and testing offices.
Workers at the traffic department spent the day in a union meeting to raise their grievances over job positions that were advertised externally instead of internally, said metro police department spokesman Wayne Minnaar.
Carol Rundle, a pensioner trying to renew her licence in Randburg, was frustrated.
ALSO READ:
Changes to car licence renewal
Fury over new car licence penalties
“I can’t stand for hours in a queue,” she said. “It's a problem to renew our licences now.”
She had gone to renew her licence, which expires early next month, on Friday but found the employees were in a union meeting that morning. The office remained closed for the workers' Christmas party that afternoon.
At the Sandton office, people complained that it had been closed on Friday for a Christmas party as well.
Rundle’s companion was also frustrated about renewing her licence, which expires this month.
“They can’t penalise us if our licences expire,” she said.
Signs at the Randburg licensing office said it would be closed until further notice but the signs at the Sandton office advised patrons to call the next day to see whether it had opened.
The Star