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.