Plethora of time-consuming changes on the cards in Swaziland

Pity your fellow cargo transport brethren in Swaziland. Whether they operate on road, rail or air, as clearing and forwarders or as overnight couriers, they have been impacted by a plethora of government document changes – both timeconsuming and costly. From drivers’ licences to passports, old documents are being updated and new ways of doing things imposed in a massive but uncoordinated drive that is seeing major changes instituted simultaneously but without a commitment of resources or personnel to ensure smooth transitions. All holders of Swaziland passports must exchange these for new versions. Every vehicle must be re-registered to receive new number plates. All Swaziland drivers’ licences have been declared obsolete, and holders must get new ones. Non- Swazi holders of government-issued PIN cards must exchange these for new colour-coded ones. To do any of these things requires absence from work for employer and employee for days at a time in order to join endless government queues. A drop in productivity was experienced when passports had to be exchanged for a September 30 deadline, the same day that the first vehicle registration deadline hit. Normally, registering a vehicle takes a day as owners go from government garage to police clearance to revenue office – but the massive number of vehicles arriving all at once meant some owners slept in their cars and trucks for days awaiting processing. Similar nightmares are in store come the drivers’ licence makeover. The transport ministry told FTW that each driver would have to be tested at still undetermined locations. With about 140 000 licence-holders required to do this, queues will be monumental. Next up: new business tax regulations as the Department of Income Tax is folded into an allencompassing Revenue Authority.