Pretoria - Motorists have been warned that law enforcement agencies will strictly apply the law against those with expired driving licences.
The grace period for motorists whose driving licences, temporary driving permits, and professional driving permit and learner’s licences expired between March 2020 and August 2021 ended yesterday.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) warned that no excuses would be accepted as the government had extended the validity period on numerous occasions and implemented extensive measures to assist motorists who wished to comply.
Driving with expired driving licence cards will also have negative consequences in the case of accidents, as insurance companies may decline claims made by drivers who failed to renew their cards.
After several extensions, this time it was decided there would be no further grace period.
Scores of people and civil organisations, such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and the Automobile Association of South Africa, fought for an extension until Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula conceded to their calls.
Motorists and driving school operators called for another extension earlier in March due to technical system failures and protests that disrupted operations at driving schools in Gauteng.
Drivers were struggling to secure slots to get their licences, while driving school operators did not like the changes to the online system and how they limited their ability to represent their clients.
A leader of driving school operators in Mabopane and Akasia, Casper Mashigo, said despite extensions the problem had still not been resolved entirely, particularly for motorists who wanted to renew their licences.
“For many people who wanted to take their tests for the first time, there were no quarrels.
“We managed to assist many of those would-be, first-time carriers of driver’s licences.
“The problem is the people who wanted to renew because there is still a backlog there. If you issue less than 100 slots at a time, but you have 900 000 people vying for them, then you’re just going to continue to have a problem,” he said.
However, with the passing of the deadline, RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane said motorists who missed the deadline were advised to obtain temporary licences to remain legal and compliant.
“Driving licence centres in most provinces are operating extended hours of service to assist motorists who wish to renew their documents,” he said.
Zwane said the backlog of driving licence cards that had not been renewed stood at 1.3 million at the beginning of May, with the majority of non-renewals (68%) in the group aged between 25 and 50.
“Those who have already renewed and wish to know if their licence cards have been printed are advised to forward their identity numbers to 33214 via SMS to verify,” he said.
“Verification can also be done by logging on individual profiles at online.natis.gov.za. The information will be on the dashboard under licensing information summary,” Zwane said.
Pretoria News