RTMC denies R250 booking fee for driving license renewal
“It is proposed that the public will have an option to make online payments for the renewal of driving licence cards or vehicle licence disks and to have these documents delivered directly to the address of their choice.”
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) slammed claims that it wants to charge a new R250 online booking fee for driving licence renewals as “misinformation”.
According to RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane, driving licence cardholders were already paying a R250 fee when renewing their credit card format driving licences at licensing centres.
“It is money paid for the production of the credit card format driving licence,” he said.
“The proposed change seeks to make it convenient for driving licence cardholders to make this payment online when making a booking to renew driving licence cards.
“It is therefore not new and it is not an additional fee.”
He called on the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), the Automobile Association (AA) and their ilk, to stop misleading and confusing members of the public.
Outa suggested that the R250 fee was over and above the transaction fees.
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Zwane said they were concerned over the “misinformation” spread by these organisations.
The claims suggesting transport authorities intended to add the new R250 charge after proposed online charges were gazetted on Friday in the draft Road Traffic Management Corporation regulations 2021.
Zwane said the RTMC was trying to improve efficiency and to cut the time that members of the public spent queuing at licencing centres.
“It is proposed that the public will have an option to make online payments for the renewal of driving licence cards or vehicle licence disks and to have these documents delivered directly to the address of their choice.
“To further streamline services, it is proposed that the registration of a vehicle by a title owner and the notification of change of ownership will in future be done online. Insurance companies will also be able to access an electronic copy of an accident report.”
He said the new planned initiatives were set to improve service delivery by reducing the time spent on queues at the licencing centres.
“This will bring about much-needed convenience to members of the public and other stakeholders.”
Zwane said further that the R72 transaction fee had not been changed in more than three years.
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He said these improvements were in line with the new way of doing business in the digital era in which many communities lived.
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage previously claimed that “proposed regulations include a list of fees, including R700 for the online registration of a motor vehicle”.
He said the R250 would be levied on top of an existing excessive administration fee of R72 per transaction paid to the RTMC to administer the national vehicle and driving licence register.
“This is nothing short of a money-making scam and must be rejected by society across the board,” he said.
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