A truck owner has a handful of temporary permits as quiet evidence of his years of struggle to get his vehicle licensed.

The white Nissan truck of Mr Hannes Strydom of Louis Trichardt has been in his name since before 1996. The truck operated in Malawi for a few years and when it was brought back, the struggle started. Since 2002, Strydom has continuously visited the municipality to get his vehicle licensed.

“Two times they told me that all my papers were lost. I go there so often they know me by name,” Strydom said.

In 2007, the R400million eNatis system, an advanced vehicle and driver licensing system, was introduced. However, it started off with a lot of hiccups.

“With the changing of the system, we handed in all our original documents to get the truck registered in the system. Each time that it was lost, we had to redo all the paperwork, have the vehicle tested and get all the necessary certificates such as roadworthy certificates and weigh bridge certificates. I have five or six clearances on the truck and about 21 permits!” said Strydom.

The real shocker came when the truck was eventually registered in the system earlier this year. “Now they say I owe them R30 000,” Strydom said.

Unfortunately, it seems as if Strydom will have no option but to pay up. In answer to a query, the Makhado Municipality, through its spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, strongly advised Mr Strydom “to settle his account without delay as license fee arrears accrue monthly at the rate of one 12th of the normal annual license fee and penalties at the rate of one 10th of the normal annual license fee.” Regulations 57 and 59 of the National Road Traffic Act (Act 93 of 1996) were quoted.

According to the records of the municipality, the said Nissan truck was re-registered in January 1999 after it was archived by the Department of Roads and Transport.

“The said vehicle then disappeared again and was archived until February 2002, when an application for a special permit was submitted. A duplicate registration certificate was authorised and issued for this vehicle on August 19, 2002 , and it was re-inroduced back into the system in February 9, 2009. The same vehicle was then re-registered on Mr Strydom’s name again on March 10, 2010 and was issued with a 21-day temporary permit,” reads the media statement.

The Makhado Municipality said that during the abscondment of the vehicle, payment of license fees was evaded and it accrued penalties and arrears as the vehicle never changed ownership.

Concerning the loss of Mr Strydom’s documentation, the municipality said that “to the best of our knowledge and understanding our records show no papers relating to this vehicle were ever lost ... it is a common phenomenon that because of the workload and the influx of documents into our office the possibility of misplacing some or other document is there as it use to happen. However, we do not have a single case where we can conclude by saying that the documents were lost because at a later stage all the misplaced documents end up being located.”

According to the records of the municipality, only one temporary permit had been issued to the Nissan truck. Mr Strydom displayed a handful of the temporary permits and said all in all he had about 21.

Bobodi said that Strydom could direct an appeal. “Should Mr Strydom not be satisfied or feel aggrieved by this decision [to settle his account], he is free to direct his dissatisfaction or appeal to the office of the Head of Department of Roads and Transport in the Limpopo Province, Limpopo Provincial Government, through the office of the municipal manager in writing.”