Atteridgeville gets smart licensing centre

The Gauteng provincial government has opened a new smart licensing centre in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria.

The licence renewal service will take about 10 minutes and is part of an initiative to bring convenience and efficiency to townships, informal settlements and hostel communities, said transport and logistics MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela at the centre’s opening this week.

“Integrating these smart testing centres into the administration system of the Road Traffic Management Corporation and offering services like other testing centres in South Africa highlights a commitment to improving public service delivery and increasing capacity to meet the demands of licence renewals and related services,” she said.

The centre provides full online and cashless services and is solar-powered to ensure services are delivered during load-shedding.

Diale-Tlabela said corruption in driver's licence renewals is caused by “runners” who demand payment for booking slots on behalf of residents.

“These operations have ceased at these smart driving licence testing centres (DLTCs). Here you come as per appointment and a law enforcer becomes the centre manager. This approach will assist in mitigating serious issues of corruption, making the process fairer and more transparent,” she said.

“The involvement of the Gautrain Management Agency in piloting and rolling out smart DLTCs along the Gautrain line is a promising approach. The positive feedback from customers at the Centurion station DLTC and others demonstrates the potential success of this model.”