Time put aside for a mission at the Licensing Department often comes with dreaded expectations. But for one lucky Lusanda, her day took several turns for the best thanks to a series of kind and helpful moments!
Johannesburg, South Africa (13 August 2024) — Time put aside for a mission at the Licensing Department often comes with dreaded expectations. Lengthy queues, double checking that all our documents are in order and preparing for the system to go offline are just some of the things South Africans know they need to prepare for.
What we aren’t always prepared for are the random acts of kindness life hands us in seemingly unexpected places. And for one Lusanda Hunter, it wasn’t only a license she got to renew at the Licensing Department, but also her faith in people.
An expired driver’s license brought Lusanda to the Licensing Department recently. The scene was set with frustration—a week’s worth of stress thanks to the online booking system that had given her an endless loop of registration and password resets before finally securing a spot. Then, as she was taking her temporary license photos, she was kindly informed she needed a copy of her ID (which had been stolen a year before).
When push came to shove, Lusanda took the advice to head to a local internet cafe in Randburg CBD that could print from her email for a good price. But upon paying, she learned that the shop had no change for her R100, and time was running out.
Now, this is usually the part where most would wonder if anything else could go wrong. But something special happened instead.
The cashier noticed Lusanda’s distress and offered to put her own money up for Lusanda; telling her that she can come back later.
“This could have been her transport money, she just freely gave it; refused to take anything as collateral,” Lusanda explains.
At the Licensing Department, Lusanda was informed that her expired license (even though it was only expired for a few days) couldn’t be accepted as identification and she needed to get a temporary ID. This after she’d been let through with only her copy.
But once again, kindness found Lusanda as the man who informed her of this, promised he would help her the same day or even the next once she returned with a temp.
“But first [he] walked me out of the room to identify the culprit that let me through with only a copy and then scolded said culprit for wasting my time,” Lusanda laughs.
After heading back to pay the internet cafe, the race to Home Affairs was on. As luck would have it, the system was offline. As luck would also have it, a light-hearted staff member assured Lusanda it wouldn’t be long and she was right on the money—30 minutes later Lusanda was out.
As promised, the man at the Licensing Department helped Lusanda immediately; moving her to the front of the line apart from the two elders she deferred her spot for.
Finally nearing the end of the stretch, she was greeted at the payment counter by a lady who had just been insulted by a very rude man. Despite the hurtful interaction, she didn’t miss a beat and greeted Lusanda with a huge smile and kindness “as if she hadn’t just been insulted to her face.”
By the end of it all, Lusanda realised that each hiccup throughout the day was met with an equal match of helpfulness.
“We may not be perfect and sure it’s Johannesburg…but in positions which garner little if any gratitude and most certainly an absolute shit ton of strife, I was met at every turn with a smile, helpfulness, professionalism.
“Just overall helpfulness that made what could have been a shitty day turn out to be full of reminders to have some faith in humanity and in our country. Thank you to all of our civil servants, your work is noble and we salute you.—Lusanda Hunter.
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