The South African Post Office (SAPO) and National Department of Transport have gone into partnership to allow car owners to renew their motor vehicle licences at post offices.
The service is already available in selected post offices in the Eastern Cape, as part of a pilot project, and SAPO hopes to extend the service to the rest of the country.
CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka says even though the project is still in its pilot phase, SAPO is optimistic it will spread to other provinces later this year. "Licence renewals are part of our broader strategy to enhance technology in SAPO."
National Department of Transport spokesman Philip van der Merwe explains that the post office sends out renewal notices via physical mail and soon e-mail and SMS to car owners. The onus will be on the public to make their way to participating post offices to pay the required fee and effect the renewal. The post offices are equipped with dedicated eNatis client PCs.
SAPO adds that if people do not have their renewal notices with them at the post offices, they can fill in a form for the renewal to take place. The post offices have access to the renewal transaction only and the connection to eNatis is entirely secure, it notes.
"From August last year, 310 036 motor vehicle licensing renewals were performed at post offices in the Eastern Cape," says Van der Merwe. "That's approximately half the total number of motor vehicle licence renewals in the province for this period."
Van der Merwe says post offices will allow a person to renew their vehicle licence at centres other than licence offices, which translates into better service delivery. "There are post office branches in areas where there are no licence offices, and some post office branches are open on Saturdays and Sundays."
SAPO says traffic fines can also soon be paid through the SAPO Web site. Lefoka explains that SAPO will soon launch a service whereby the public will receive their fines via e-mail and pay the fine using the post office as a portal.
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