On Friday, 11 October 2024, the North West Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Community Safety and Transport Management led by Hon Freddy Sonakile conducted an oversight visit

On Friday, 11 October 2024, the North West Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee on Community Safety and Transport Management led by Hon Freddy Sonakile conducted an oversight visit at Potchefstroom weighbridge and License Centre in the JB Marks local municipality in Dr. Kenneth Kaunda District.
This was during the Oversight Week program that was scheduled to take place on the 08 – 11 October 2024, with the aim of strengthening oversight and public participation and to promote accountability and transparency in government.

The committee received a briefing from the centre on its functional daily operations, stating amongst others the functionality of the calibration machine that enables the weighing of trucks and the issuance of fines where applicable. Trucks with serious issues are fined and impounded until their owners rectify the issues and settle the penalties.
Amongst challenges found was that the centre has a shortage of staff personnel. The centre currently operates with 14 people, but there is a shortage of 30 personnel required to fully operate the station. The security officers who work at the centre, often unarmed, struggle to prevent a break ins of thieves who steal goods and other materials found in impounded trucks.

The Committee requested amongst others, a written submission outlining all needs and requirements of the centre, a written response from the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management regarding the reason for deviating from the tender specifications when appointing the security company and records of communication with the Department regarding the request to fill vacant positions and also provide current post establishment of the station to the committee.

The committee proceeded to the Potchefstroom Licensing Department to assess its operations, as there have been numerous complaints about the department.
The department uses a system called NaTIS (National Administration Traffic Information System), which is managed by the Provincial Department. The system is often offline, which negatively affects daily activities at the centre. Only an IT technician from the provincial level is dispatched to fix the system when its offline instead of an IT tech from a regional or district level who are not trained on the system.

There is also a shortage of staff, with people acting in most positions, a shortage of cashiers and personnel issuing licenses, which causes delay in the operations of the station. There is a backlog of filing or documents that need to be archived by the provincial office since 1981. The filing documents occupy most of the space in the building, with some even stored in the cashiers’ booths. There has been no word from the department on how they plan to archive the documents scattered throughout the building.

The committee made a commitment to meet with the department to check how often they visit the licensing and vehicle testing stations to ensure smooth operations of the stations. The committee also requested a plan used by the department to service their equipment located in different districts, detailing period given to repair and monitor the equipment used.

The Chairperson of the committee also aims to engage with the department to develop a plan to assist with filing or archiving of documents.
Ends

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