Post office runs out of car licensing paper

Buffalo City Metro (BCM) motorists were left frustrated as they battled to license their vehicles on Friday after the South African Post Office (Sapo) ran out of printing paper last week.

Irate motorists said several offices in the city were without the paper, known officially as “face-value documents”.

Gwazimpundulu Patani of Mdantsane visited three Sapo offices to renew his licence disc in the past week.

“My licence disk expired in November. I first went to the Mdantsane office and they said they couldn't renew the licence for me. I drove to the Amalinda office and they also could not help me. Finally I went to the Southernwood and Cambridge offices and I was told that there was no paper to print the document,” he said.

A teller at the Beacon Bay office said they had 'borrowed' 50 sheets of the paper from the Nahoon office on Thursday, but quickly ran out as the demand surpassed the supply.

She said they had since ordered more printing paper, but it had not yet arrived by the time of closing on Friday afternoon.

A government official who asked not to be named echoed the complaints said the situation had caused endless queues at the BCM offices where licensing of vehicles is also done, as people searched for an alternative licensing payment venue.

“They [Sapo] had a note on their teller window apologising for the inconvenience. I decided to go home without paying for the licence. This is a huge inconvenience and it is easy to use the money for other needs right now,” she said.

The official visited post offices in Beacon Bay, Nahoon, Southernwood, Gonubie, Cambridge and the East London CBD on Thursday and Friday, but had no luck in renewing her car licence disk.

Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger refuted the claims of a widespread shortage across BCM offices, saying only the Beacon Bay, Gonubie and Bhisho offices had been affected by the shortage of printing paper.

“We can confirm that our East London branches have paper for renewing vehicle licences — they never ran out of stock. Three branches outside the city ran out of paper, but for a few hours only; on the same day they received sufficient stock.”

Meanwhile BCM traffic commander Quinton Chetty said motorists could renew their licence disks at the municipal traffic offices, or face a fine of R1,000.

“We did not know that the post office does not have paper. We have enough paper to assist in the renewal of licences. Most vehicle transactions including vehicle licensing are done with us, so people cannot have excuses, or they will be prosecuted,” Chetty said.

He urged motorists to settle outstanding traffic fines.

“A series of roadblocks will be held to check on traffic fines, outstanding warrants, vehicle roadworthiness, commuter safety and driver and vehicle fitness.”

He said R61,600 of traffic fines had been paid at the Automated Number-plate Recognition (ANPR) system bus, which has been assisting in collecting outstanding fines and executing outstanding warrants of arrest at the weekend.

“Motorists are encouraged to check if they have outstanding fines and settle them rather than being caught,” he said.