Fikile Mbalula and Transport Department Slammed for Having 1 Driver's Licence Printing Machine

• Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula and the Department of Transport have been slammed for their failures
• Citizens and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) believe that having one licence printing machine is unacceptable
• This after the minister blamed Eskom and the power cuts on the delayed repairs to South Africa’s only machine

JOHANNESBURG - Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and the Department of Transport are being called out for their failures. This after the minister blamed Eskom and the power cuts on the delayed repairs to the country’s only driver’s licence card printing machine.

After being out of service for two weeks, the machine was fixed. The minister announced that the repairs were concluded and said the machine runs on a 24-hour shift cycle.

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He said the department plans to meet the demand and “kill” the backlog. Mbalula said the machine was challenged by loadshedding.

According to TimesLIVE, when asked if there were backup generators in place, he said the interruption occurred due to the backup system power surge, which has been addressed.

However, Parliament’s Transport Committee chairperson Lisa Mangcu was not buying the excuse and said he wanted real answers. He said the committee had been seeking answers from the department and Mbalula but has been constantly met with excuses since 2019.

Mangcu also slammed the facility for not having necessary backups to ensure there was no stoppage in production. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has also called out the department.

EWN reported that the organisation said the excuse of loadshedding was “weak” and the country cannot have “only one fragile machine.”

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Citizens angered by the excuses:

Reinhard Pettenburger said:

“Any excuse! Why not just be honest and say it’s a result of the failures your ANC government caused like everything else! Take responsibility for once and say it as it is!”

Moira Jenkins Marcelino commented:

“Just another stark example of utter incompetence on every level of those who purport to run the country! Useless!”

Gregory Martin posted:

“If the money was used for its intended purpose and not lining cadre pockets maybe there would be money for a second machine?”

George Holland wrote:

“One driver’s license machine for a country of 50-odd million people? Oh, I forgot silly me this is animal farm! The pigs are running it.”

Sikhanyiso Jojo added:

“This is nonsense at it's best, surely the comrades can arrange a few more machines.”

Transport committee wants Fikile Mbalula to explain what really happened to the driver’s license card machine

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In a related matter, Briefly News also reported Parliament’s transport committee is not buying Fikile Mbalula’s excuse that the country’s only driver’s licence machine broke down because of load shedding.

Lisa Mancgcu, the chairperson of the Transport Committee, demanded that Mbalula provide them with legitimate answers and not blame power outages for the machine’s breakdown.

“We have been seeking answers from the department and the minister, we are not accepting the excuses being given and we will be calling the department because the excuses keep on changing since 2019.”

Source: Briefly News