Motorists handed another lifeline by Mbalula
“We urge all those who have yet to renew their driving licences not to delay any further and take advantage of the additional capacity we have provided and the online services.”
Motorists with expired licences have now been graced with another lifeline by Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula as a new extension date has been set to renew expired licences.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on Friday announced that Mbalula, after consultation with various provincial MECs and Salga (South African Local Government Association) members had decided to extend the licence grace period.
“We have decided to extend the grace period of the validity of driving licences that expired between March 26, 2020 and August 31, 2021 to April 15, 2022,” said the RTMC.
“We urge all those who have yet to renew their driving licences not to delay any further and take advantage of the additional capacity we have provided and the online services.”
The RTMC said those who had to apply for renewal of their driving licence cards before the expiry date, were permitted to use the expired card for a period of three months, provided they had in their possession the expired card and the receipt of renewal in the vehicle at all times.
“This is a provision that is contained in our national road traffic regulations.”
In August 2021, it was announced that the extension period of learner’s licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits would end on March 31, 2022.
The minister had previously, throughout the weeks leading to the deadline day, reiterated that no extension would be given to motorists.
This was despite challenges still affecting motorists from renewing their licences, such as protests by driving school associations, which saw driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) shut doors, in light of violence to staff.
While other challenges were said to be administrative issues in securing a renewal of a licence by motorists.
This extension follows the Automobile Association’s (AA) warning of a crisis looming.
The AA said the crisis was upon motorists whose licences expired between March 26, 2020 and August 31, 2021 and which were only valid until March 31, 2022.
“In February, minister Mbalula indicated that the total backlog of licences that will have expired by March 31 – that have to be renewed – stood at 2.1 million nationally.
“Given the recent problems with the production of driving licence cards, and issues around driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) and online booking systems, we believe it’s unrealistic to expect that this enormous backlog will be cleared by today. This leaves hundreds of thousands of drivers without the necessary documents to be on the road legally,” the AA said.
“Unless traffic law enforcement understands these issues – and finds a suitable way of addressing them – we may find a massive spike in the number of traffic fines issued to motorists in the next couple of weeks and months.”
The association said motorists would most probably find themselves negatively impacted from an insurance perspective if they were involved in crashes.
“Insurers may repudiate claims if motorists are driving with expired licences. Although those who have applied for new licences are covered through an extension of the validity of their licences, there are still many drivers who have not applied for renewed licences for various reasons beyond their control.
“Government’s priority should be to provide an environment conducive to renewing these documents, and to provide the necessary back-up systems to ensure timely production and delivery.
“However, this is currently not the case in the majority of DLTCs and is creating a situation that will, effectively, criminalise those who could not apply for renewals through no fault of their own,” the AA said.
The association said the only practical solution was for government to further extend the renewal period, and to ensure all DLTCs and systems are geared to accommodate the backlogs.
“Failing to do this, motorists will unfortunately make the decision to drive illegally as they still must remain mobile, whatever the consequences. This is a situation which suits no one in the country.
“Extending the deadline will indicate a willingness by government to deal effectively with the current backlogs and will show that it understands the limitations of its current structures. Along with extending the deadline, government must now urgently finalise plans to extend the validity period of driving licences from five to 10 years,” said the AA.
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