The announcement was made by MEC William Bulwane during his budget speech in the Free State Provincial Legislature. The statement comes after the public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, found the department guilty of maladministration and improper conduct after a complaint by a private businessman in January 2018.

Also read: Mkhwebane rules against Free State department

Mkhwebane had found that the department failed to properly handle the application or inquiry of the complaint by failing to process an application to operate this testing station in Botshabelo.

“To address the unimpressive conditions at our Registration Authorities, the Department will be appointing 15 contractors under Vegetation Control to maintain cleanliness at Registration Authorities and Testing Stations in the 2022/23 financial year. The project is specifically aimed at empowering emerging contractor companies owned by women, youths and people with disabilities. This initiative will ensure economic transformation and job creation,” Bulwane added.

MEC Bulwane also welcomed the announcement by National Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, to extend the licence renewal deadline to 15 April 2022.

However, the provincial department has since released a communique that stated that the deadline in the province will be on 14 April, since 15 April falls on Easter Friday.

The departmental spokesperson, Hillary Mophete, added that in the Free State, of the 134,917 expired licences, only 65,551 driving licences have been renewed so far, which translates to 48%.

During the address in the Legislature sitting in Fourth Raadsaal in Bloemfontein on Thursday, MEC Bulwane said “as a department, we welcome the extension of driver licence renewals to the 15th of April 2022, and we will be working closely with the National Department of Transport and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) to ensure that all motorists that are due for driving licence renewals, renew in numbers”.

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