The lack of an integrated system is responsible for chaos at licence testing stations, says the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC).
It is still taking flak for the state of the province's licence booking system. Many would-be motorists complain booking licence tests is cumbersome and that bookings are often unavailable - or in the remote future.
Spokesperson Khusela Sangoni says the province is "committed to ensuring government services are citizen-friendly, which is why the GSSC was created in the first place. There is a lot being done here to ensure these problems disappear," she says. Technology will play a key role, as will be getting to grips with wayward testing centres, Sangoni notes.
However, she adds that this is difficult to do in the absence of an integrated system linking the GSSC and testing centres, meaning much of the booking process is manual and susceptible to fraud and corruption. This is one of the key reasons the booking process was centralised in 2004.
Addressing the problem
For the moment, GSSC call agents cannot see what slots are available and where. This problem is compounded by non-cooperation, with 15 of the 17 testing centres previously using the GSSC for pre-bookings having withdrawn from the initiative.
GSSC deputy GM Mduduzi Sikhakhane says Gauteng finance MEC Paul Mashatile and transport counterpart Ignatius Jacobs will address the problem.
Sikhakhane adds the public misunderstands GSSC's role in the process. "We are a pre-booking service. In order to book, we need resources [in the form of time slots from the testing centres]. If citizens can't get bookings, they blame the contact centre," he says.
"The process, from a citizen's point of view, must be as seamless as possible."
He adds the public does not care how many parties are involved in the process, or what role they play - they expect service.
Even so, demand is high and supply is low. Sikhakhane says there are only 11 000 slots available a month, while the demand is for about 23 000. To deal with this, another 20 testing centres are in the pipeline.
Senior contact centre manager Nomzamo Fihla says capacity at the call centre is not an issue, with the 250 call centre operators at the GSSC's Fox Street and Wynberg centres coping with 200 000 calls per month in connection with testing.
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