Johannesburg metro police were deployed to the Langlaagte testing station on Tuesday morning after irate members of the public threatened to break down the doors.
”People become impatient and threatened to breakdown the glass doors. Metro police were deployed to ensure order and to ensure people stand in queues,” said spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
Twelve police officers were deployed to the station and were monitoring the situation.
National traffic spokesperson Collen Msibi confirmed the Department of Transport’s new electronic system (eNaTIS) had been offline since Tuesday morning due to a fault with a VDSL Telkom line.
It was fixed by 10.30am.
”They’re back online but using the old Telkom line.”
The department aimed to ”drastically” reduce the backlog at traffic stations by the end of the month.
”People seem to judge by the long queues that the system is not working, but it’s not true.”
A similar problem with a Telkom line was fixed roughly a week ago near Randfontein.
Minnaar said the number of people at Langlaagte had to be controlled.
The station’s doors were closed and it was explained to those waiting that this was in order to first attend to people on the inside.
eNaTIS has been plagued with problems since it was implemented.
A new server was installed earlier this month due to problems with capacity. — Sapa