Licence snafu

James Peron is the president of the Moorfield Storey Institute and author of several books, including Exploding Population Myths and The Liberal Tide.

For interviews:
gailday@fmfsa.org

The views expressed in the article are the author's and not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation.

This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author.

The FMF is an independent, non-profit, public benefit organisation, created in 1975 by pro-free market business and civil society national bodies to work for
a non-racial, free and prosperous South Africa.
As a policy organisation it promotes sound economic policies and the principles
of good law. As a think tank it seeks and puts forward solutions to some of the country's most pressing problems: unemployment, poverty, growth, education, health care, electricity supply, and more. The FMF was instrumental in the post-apartheid negotiations and directly influenced the Constitutional Commission to include the property
rights clause: a critical cornerstone of economic freedom.

CONTACT US
+27 11 884 0270
FMF@fmfsa.org
PO Box 4056, Cramerview 2060

This article was first published on News24.com on 18 January 2022

Licence snafu – James Peron

Two of the funniest books written satirizing the old regime in South Africa were Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure by the novelist Tom Sharp. A British expat, Sharpe moved to South Africa in 1951 but was arrested for “sedition” in 1961 over a satirical play he wrote and duly deported. The old National Party governments were never really known for having a sense of humour—especially about themselves.

Several decades later, we are witnessing something reading like Sharpe’s fiction, but it’s a costly dilemma for South Africans.

It started in November when the only government-owned machine to produce driver’s licences died and no substitute was available. Some 500,000+ licences have backlogged since and the government doesn’t have any incentive to fix it. In fact, they are financially better off leaving it broken.

Individuals who can’t replace their licence in a timely fashion have to obtain a temporary driving permit costing R90 and then still get the proper licence and pay the required fee as per normal. That’s an extra R45 million from just the current backlog. Every day more people join the backlog and the rewards for ineptness grow.

Temporary permits are valid for only six months; those who have been wait-listed in November will have to pay for another temporary permit in May. The more inept the system, the greater the department’s revenue and the poorer the people. The top four executives in the department pull in salaries averaging R1.5 million each, while the lower paid staff only average R100,000 each.

In spite of the licensing system being highly lucrative for government, they never bothered to obtain a backup system in case things went haywire. Instead of them paying for a new system, they are letting millions of South Africans pay for the department’s poor management.

It isn’t that the Driving Licence Card Account division of the Department didn’t know the machine was on its last legs. Early last year they acknowledged it was “obsolete” and in need of replacement. But they never got around to actually doing it. But then, they never had an incentive to move quickly. A monopoly service doesn’t worry about happy customers.

When in New Zealand a few years back, I needed a local driver’s license. I hadn’t really looked into how things worked there and was pleasantly surprised. Unlike the notoriously bad Department of Motor Vehicles in the U.S., in New Zealand there is no such entity. There is still licensing and testing but there is no one centralized monopoly service with clerks who take 20 minutes just to sign their name.

If you need to get new licence plates, you go to any post office, pay at the counter and are handed new plates rights there and then. The post office across the street from my home did just that and was open on Sundays, but then it was a privately owned franchise of the New Zealand Post and could set extended hours if they wished.

When it came to my driver’s licence, I was worried because I had dealt with the licensing departments in both the United States and South Africa and I dreaded the idea of standing in endless queues that move at the speed of molasses. A friend urged me to get the licence and I expressed my reluctance.

He said I should go Sunday morning. I had never heard anything so ludicrous in my life. What government agency is open on Sunday? He assured me all I had to do was go to the Automobile Association office not far from the house.

I walked into the office of the AA and a few dozen customers were there. Most were taking tests or filling out applications at the tables provided them. There were three clerks and all three had one person being served. I got in line and in about two minutes was at the front of the line. I gave the clerk some basic information and she handed me a test about rules of the road.

I sat down, took the test, and went back to the clerk who attended to me immediately. She checked the answers there and then and said I passed. She had me look at an eye chart and do an eye test and then had a photo taken for the licence and I paid the fee. The whole exercise took about 30 minutes. The licence was mailed to me and I received it with the Monday afternoon mail.

A huge difference is these organizations rely on people choosing to use their service rather than those of a competitor. Unlike the DMV in America, they have to have happy customers or they lose money. I read of a 17-year-old who had his driving test ended when his fuel light came on. He complained to the private Vehicle Testing New Zealand and his father complained on Facebook. VTNZ said their employee erred, refunded the test fee to the boy, called him up to personally apologize and rebooked his test free of charge.

In New Zealand, people are treated as customers because there they actually recognise them as customers. That is something South Africa should mimic.

James Peron

James Peron is the president of the Moorfield Storey Institute and author of several books, including Exploding Population Myths and The Liberal Tide.

Publish date: 25 January 2022
Views: 30 477

James Peron, licences, government, Economic freedom / Growth

The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation. This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author.

Share this article

Help FMF promote the rule of law, personal liberty, and economic freedom become an individual member / donor HERE ... become a corporate member / donor HERE