Umm Muhammed Umar

Time is running out for motorists who have to renew their driving licenses before the grace period ends on Thursday. The National Department of Transport earlier this month said it was well on track with the production of outstanding driving licence cards. It said the bottleneck experienced between November 2021 and January 2022 would be cleared by April 2022. However, experts have warned that administrative problems including struggles to make online appointments, would see thousands of motorists on the road without valid driver’s licenses. Outa’s legal head Stephanie Fick discussed the issue with Radio Islam.

Fick said that there was a multitude of problems being experienced by motorists trying to renew their driver’s license cards. She projected that one of the solutions to alleviate the problem would be to extend the deadline. Fick, however, added, “Your driver’s license never expires; it’s only the drivers licence card that expires.” Fick added, “always keep your license with you, whether the card is expired or not. And if you applied, keep that and prove that you tried to apply for your new driver’s license……. because in terms of the regulations, you in any case, have a grace period of three months.” She said it was totally unreasonable that the department has had so many problems, what with covid, and the card printing machine having been broken, but expected people, some of whom were still struggling to get an appointment, to be law abiding citizens, while the opportunity to be just that, was taken away from them. She said, “So I think the right thing to do is to give everybody an extension, and sort out your (the departments) own administrative problems.

Outa has also been advocating to the Minister, to consider extending applications for a driver’s license card from five years to 10 years because that would, according to Fick, immediately alleviate the administrative problems the department was experiencing.

With regards to whether there was a legal basis to challenge the five-year rule, and have it extended to 10 years for renewal of licenses Fick said that litigation was always an option. However, she remained hopeful that the minister would, at a policy level, realize, that even international standards show that “it’s not five years, it’s closer to, in some countries 12 and 20 years.” She said that being forced to renew ones driving licence every 5 years appeared to simply be a money-making scheme. Further, law enforcement was also problematic as South Africa simply did not have enough traffic officers. Fick said, “So why waste time in trying to write tickets for people which we in any case, believe is unlawful under the circumstances, because what court is going to find anybody guilty of having an expired driver’s license?”