Illustrative image | Monday morning traffic on the M1 South on 09 June 2025. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla) | Driver's licences. (Photo : Gallo Images / Sowetan / Antonio Muchave) 
After several weeks of trepidation, the morning arrived. It began, as so many do, with the cries of hadedas, the shuffling of dogs and the non-wakefulness of teenagers.
After stumbling through the procession of mewling and wagging, opening various doors and failing (amazingly) to set off the alarm, I was able to switch on the kettle and pour out pellets for the animals.
It was during the 13th yawn that I remembered that today was going to be different. Today I would test a government service for myself by applying for a new driver’s licence card.
After previous experiences – the time my father, a brother and I queued outside some place in southern Joburg (I think it was a farm formerly known as Langlaagte), or when I lost a morning of my life in Randburg, or the last time, just five years ago, that involved a camp chair and a novel – I needed to be convinced that government services could change.
The trip to the Waterfall Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) was not auspicious in its portent. From the bottom of Jan Smuts Drive all the way down Bompas and through Corlett to join the M1, I think one set of robots was working. By the time I got to the centre itself, I felt I had been wrestling state failure all day.
And it was just 7.26am.
It is amazing what a difference a person at a reception desk can make. You immediately know where to go and what to do. And, more importantly, you can tell immediately how long it’s going to take. From my 30-second interaction with the incredible helpful person at the door, I knew this was going to be quick.
And so it was. From getting forms (with a clipboard, nogal), to rushing back to the car to fetch my pen (really, I didn’t bring one in … I mean, COME ON Stephen!), having my eyes tested and out again took 20 minutes.
But the real highlight was immediately after my eye test, when I was asked politely: “Would you like a temporary licence too?”
Ten seconds later, I’d paid (R300 for the new licence card and the temporary licence) and was dancing down the steps to my car.
I could not believe it! Despite everything you had told me about this place, I could still not believe it had been so quick and so easy.
But as I started the car and began to pull off, my jubilation ebbed away.
Why, I thought, is it only like this now? Surely, all of those previous times it could have been like this too.
And why are some government departments – like this one, and some Home Affairs offices – so good and some so bad.
In the past two months, a family member has been overjoyed by the service she received from Home Affairs at Cresta, but callers to The Money Show told me, in the same week, that Home Affairs at Roodepoort still has major problems.
And Anna Cox’s amazing reporting on the planning records in Joburg shows you just how horrendous these situations can be.
In that case, it seems obvious that someone is benefiting – making money through corruption.
When you block access to certain legally necessary procedures, such as driver’s licences and licence cards, and building plans, it is obvious what will happen next.
In Joburg, you have to email a particular person for your building plan, the conversation moves to WhatsApp and the corruption moves from there.
In the past, before the extra capacity at the Waterfall DLTC was created, you often had to pay a driving school to secure an appointment. And, obviously, they charged a fee.
There are still so many places like that in our country, where someone has been able to keep gates closed and then act as the gatekeeper.
Whether it’s the man who seems to enjoy the chaos outside a government office, or the system that seems designed to make life difficult for you, you know that someone is benefiting.
All of this went through my mind as I pulled out of Waterfall and noticed that the traffic light in front of me was working (despite its obvious distance from any G20 delegate).
It will require a lot of hard work, and a huge amount of transparency, to make all government services like the Waterfall DLTC.
But with immense public pressure, there is no reason on our great green Earth that all government services cannot be like this – and that you are not able to face a licence card morning with a spring in your step. DM