‘Irrational’ Mbalula under fire for not extending driver’s licence renewal period

Civil rights organisation AfriForum has slammed Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s reasons for not extending the renewal period of driver’s licence cards in South Africa.

AfriForum said that court records filed by Mbalula claimed the reason the renewal period cannot be extended from five years to 10 years is due to the material the cards are made of.

Mbalula, according to AfriForum, said the renewal period can’t be longer than five years as the material of the cards will start degrading after that.

“The court record shows that it is an entirely inadequate and irrational explanation to prescribe the five-year renewal period simply because the material of the driver’s license cards allegedly cannot last longer,” said Reiner Duvenage, AfriForum’s Campaign Officer: Strategy and Content.

This comes after AfriForum and the Automobile Association (AA) went to court to extend the renewal period.

Despite what he said in his court papers, Mbalula in February said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) was looking into extending the validity of driver’s licences from five to 10 years.

“The RTMC has appointed a panel of researchers to look into the matter,” the minister said.

ALSO READ: Fikile Mbalula urged to speed up validity period of drivers licences

In an interview with the SABC in June, Mbalula said legislation is not clear on whether a driver’s licence card must be renewed every five years.

“We are also looking at the duration time. It is five years, but in terms of the national land transport act, that issue is not very clear that it has to be five years,” Mbalula said.

AfriForum, however, said it will continue with its legal case as it has little faith in the government doing what it says it will do.

“AfriForum’s legal action will play a key role in bringing an end to the five-year renewal period of driver’s license cards, as the government is not known for keeping its promises,” said Duvenage.

“It is extremely encouraging for AfriForum’s court case that the minister himself admits that the legislation is unclear about the renewal period of driving licence cards.”

ALSO READ: RTMC looking at extending driver’s licence renewal period, says Mbalula

The legal action from Outa, the AA and AfriForum was launched after South Africa experienced a huge backlog in processing new driver’s licence cards, due to licensing centres being closed during the Covid lockdown and the card printing machine being broken. Motorists also experienced issues with the online booking system.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) had previously stated that extending the renewal period to 10 years will bring efficiency to a chaotic system.

“Extending the period of validity of driver’s licence cards from five to 10 years will immediately bring an end to the backlog chaos that is not going to be resolved for a long time, if the status quo remains,” says Advocate Stefanie Fick, OUTA Executive Director.

The AA has said that changing the renewal period is the “most practical” way to prevent another backlog.

“This research [into extending the validity period of driving licence cards] should now be completed and is, in our view, the most practical way forward. It’s now incumbent on government to implement this change as a pragmatic way of dealing with driving licence issues now and into the future,” the AA said earlier this year.