Two centres opened to address renewal of driving licences and more
"We are concerned with the low number of motorists who are taking advantage of the extension of the validity period."
Two licensing centres situated at the Road Traffic Management Corporation headquarters have been set in motion to speedily address challenges which had led to a backlog crisis for the transport department.
The centres are located at Waterfall Park in Midrand and Eco Park in Centurion, operating for seven days a week, from 07:00 to 21:00.
RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane said the initiative was part of efforts to improve efficiency and reduce the backlog in expired licences caused by the imposition of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
The two centres will allow the public to renew driving licences, professional driving permits and conversion of foreign driving licences.
The Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, said the two centres were a pilot of more initiative to be established by the transport department.
Mbalula said he will be expanding online services to include:
– Online registration of vehicles and notice of change of ownership.
– Online vehicle licence renewals and
– Payment for online crash reports
Mbalula said the department would work to get rid of the corruption that was still lingering in the licensing centres.
“However, we are concerned with the low number of motorists who are taking advantage of the extension of the validity period. Only 38 619 motorists have renewed their licences. This leaves us with a backlog of 633 800 expired driving licences that are yet to be renewed.
BEST SERVICE: We today officially opened two driving licence centers in Gauteng.
OCTOBER TRANSPORT MONTH
| Fixing Transport to Build Better Communities | #OTM2021 pic.twitter.com/qBgxXesUYz— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 7, 2021
The RTMC has fitted 2 buses with state of the art equipment to serve as mobile centres to assist with licence renewals. The process of finalising the RTMC registration as DLTC for the operation of these buses remains work in progress. #OTM2021 pic.twitter.com/AnyEdrrrIC
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 7, 2021
“Our policy regime needs to be looked at. You renew after every five years and so on.”
Mbalula said the department needed to look for efficient ways to renew.
He said the department was looking at introducing smart cards, however, the system was currently a mess.
“The system is a mess currently and I will have to first fix the system.”
He said ideally, they wanted to run a system that would have people collect their licences in less than 10 minutes.
The RTMC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), which will pave the way for motorists to make use of private optometrists who will have authority to upload eye test results directly to the eNatis system. #OTM201 pic.twitter.com/nL7VkbKpjV
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) October 7, 2021
The new developments by the transport department follows the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport recently, managing to assist over 20 000 people with the renewal of their driver’s licences, after engaging in an aggressive drive to deal with backlogs induced by the Covid-19 lockdown period.
The roads and transport department announced that, through the aggressive drive and the Request a Slot campaign, it had reached the 20 000 milestone since its launch four weeks ago.
“We are grateful for the co-operation we are receiving from the people of Gauteng. We are happy to announce in just four weeks, more than 20 000 people have renewed their driver’s licences, “said MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure, Jacob Mamabolo.
“The feedback that we are receiving from the public on the Request a Slot campaign has been positive and we, therefore, urge members of the public not to wait until the 11th hour and renew their driver’s licences now,” said Mamabolo.
The Request a Slot mobile application is only available on Android, or by emailing the words ‘Request A Slot’ to requestaslot@gauteng.gov.za or requestaslot@rtmc.co.za.
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