Licence dawdlers may pay dearly
2003-03-12 08:19
Pietermaritzburg - People who leave it to the last minute to convert their driver's licences may face fines.
The KwaZulu-Natal transport department is considering making procastinators pay for the inconvenience it faces in making staff work extra hours.
In KZN alone, 120 000 people still have to convert to the credit-card format and, after the frantic rush to meet the first deadline at the end of February, applications have now slowed to a trickle.
National transport department official Lisa Mangcu said 1.1m people nationwide still had to convert and the department foresaw another big rush next month.
The department will assess the number who still have to convert at the end of March and then decide what action to take.
This might include fines of between R500 and R1 000 for the extra burden the rush will cause.
"Extra computers will have to be brought into the stations where the conversions are taking place.
"People will have to work overtime and extra manpower will have to be brought in. That is an extra burden," said Mangcu.
"If we have to open for an extra hour, that is not too much of a burden," he said, "but, if we have to open for an extra eight hours, that is."