I was shitting myself last night. Not for the test today but more for the weather. It wasn’t looking good at all. Any rain and they cancel the test and postpone. I really didn’t want to have the test postponed. It became frontal last night which to the lay man simply means the wind blows like a son of a bitch from the west and that drags in all the crap wet weather from Cape Town. Fortunately this morning it was holding out sufficiently.
I rushed off to the testing station for an 11:30am booking while staring at the sky and hoping like mad. The test itself was very uneventful. The rain held out and I completed my test. It went really well. I guess that comes with good preparation. I passed with flying colours
And then the shit storm began. The government kicked in and that’s when the happiness ended. There’s a problem with my driver’s license apparently. Supposedly in 2003 while I was out of the country I was supposed to convert my old ID book style driver’s license to an ID card license. Since I did not do the conversion there is now a block on the license. Now that I have passed my bike license they need to issue a card license with both licenses on it. Simple? NO! This is Africa. First they have to remove the license from my ID book before they can issue the card. Simple? NO! They are useless! Apparently it can take up to 4 months to sort this out in a distant town called Bisho which looks after the entire region. Only once this is done can I go in to sort out and pay for my new license. But I am going to be away by then so I have to make another plan for issue and collection. Just a real pain in the ass. I can only hope it will be sorted without too many problems.
Africa!
Louisa
August 26, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Hey! Congrats on passing you licence. I can’t believe you still don’t have a card licence?! I’m almost on my second renewal already. (You have to go for an eye test and a wallet lightening every five years by the way – just in case you didn’t know).
another hook
August 26, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Usual explanation. It’s Africa.
HooX
August 30, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Lou – Cheers man. I have been overseas remember. I knew about the requirement but I have not been home long enough to sort it out. The deadline was apparently 2003. I can’t even rememebr where I was but I can assure you that a stupid SA driver’s license card was not high on the list of priorities. I guess if things were easier to do in this stupid government I would have done it sooner. In the UK you go to the post office and fill out a form and give 3 photos. You get your new card in less than a week. 1st world!
AH – yup. It is!
Thelma
February 11, 2012 at 6:33 pm
I also didn’t renew my licence as I didn’t have the money at that stage. I tried to get a card licence last week after 4 hours in the q, going through an eyetest and everything. Guess what, I was informed that I must go for the learners and drivers tests again!