Pretoria - Gautrain motorists have taken to social media to express positive experiences and efficiency at the new driving licence testing centres.
The new innovative and advanced licensing centres were launched in Gauteng by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the Department of Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure.
To sort out the backlog of licence renewals caused by the lockdown, the department launched solar-powered smart centres at the Midrand and Centurion Gautrain stations.
Popular entrepreneur Mark Sham had his comments section flooded with positive reviews after sharing his story about his impressive experience, praising the staff and chief executive of the RTMC, advocate Makhosini Msibi.
Posting a picture of Msibi at the Waterfall Centre, Sham wrote: “I have to share a really positive experience I had while renewing my driving licence at Waterfall Office Park. As South Africans, we often moan about the incompetence of government services, but we rarely celebrate when they get things right.
“On Monday, I made a booking through the website and picked Waterfall as the location I’d like to renew with the next day. Honestly, I was expecting every part of the process to be a pain, but when I arrived yesterday, it was the total opposite.
“As I got to Waterfall, I stood in a short queue. I arrived without photos or a copy of my ID but the staff helped me out. I took a sneaky picture of the main guy running the show. He and his team were so friendly and they kept telling everyone that they shouldn’t be there for longer than 20 minutes.
“In fact, as I sat there with a bunch of other South Africans, we all kept looking at each other in total disbelief. What is going on? Why is everything so efficient? And why are all the staff competent and friendly? You almost start to wonder if there’s a catch.
“But in the end, it was all legit. I got my licence renewed and got a temporary licence in a short space of time. The staff even made jokes with us and it genuinely felt like they knew we were taking time out of our busy day to be there, so they were willing to do anything they could to speed the process up while making the experience incredibly pleasant.
“I’ll say it again; South Africans moan a lot, and for good reason, but I don’t know if we celebrate excellence enough, especially from the government, when the opportunity arises to do so.
“On that note, I just want to give a big shout out to this guy in the picture and his team. I was genuinely blown away yesterday and I just knew that I had to write this post and acknowledge the good work. If you need to renew your driver’s licence and you’re able to get to Waterfall Office Park in Gauteng, then please do it.”
This saw scores of drivers from all demographics share their positive stories. Included in the comment section was Mocheta Monama of the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, who said he shared his experience some months ago but people thought maybe he was assisted swiftly because he wore uniform, which he did not.
Pretoria News