Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is finalising an agreement with the Health Professions Council of South Africa that would allow motorists who are applying to renew the drivers licence cards, to do their eye tests at any optometrist they prefer.
Mbalula said this was part of several interventions which are aimed at improving the quality-of-service delivery at the Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTC). The transport minister said this when he tabled the department’s budget vote during a mini plenary of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
“The RTMC is finalising the agreement with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, which would enable motorists to do an eye test at an optometrist of their choice, and results are directly uploaded in the system,” he said.
Mbalula said in order to improve the services at the driving licence testing centres, a new service delivery model will come into effect and will not only improve the experience of the motorists but will drastically cut down on turn-around times.
“These will range from the time a motorist spends in a DLTC to the time it takes to receive a driver’s licence. We have already implemented the online payment system, eliminating another queue that the motorist would have spent time on in the past.”
Mbalula said the implementation of the smart enrolment infrastructure this year will further improve the processing time as the units are liked to Home Affairs and will be able to validate the identity of the motorist.
Source: Business Tech, The AU Times, image from The AU Times