Mbalula says RTMC still researching validity period of driver’s licences

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is still conducting research into the validity period of driver’s licence cards.

Mbalula held a media briefing on Friday to announce a further 15-day extension to the driver’s licence renewal grace period.

The previous deadline expired on Thursday, 31 March.

The latest extension means all learner licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021 are valid until 15 April.

Backlog

During Friday’s briefing, Mbalula said progress has been made in dealing the driver’s licence cards backlog.

The minister said the number of driver’s licence cards, for which renewal applications have yet to be made, currently stands at over a million (1,424,756), which is a reduction from more than 2.8 million.

“This means that only 49% of the affected motorists have applied for renewal of their expired driving licences. The primary reason for this is that motorists are not coming forward to renew their licences for a variety of reasons,” he said.

Regarding motorists who have already applied to renew their licences, the backlog of cards to be printed had been significantly reduced, according to Mbalula.

“As of 28 March 2022, we had produced 628,150 drivier’s licence card, reducing the backlog to be printed to 522,839,” he said.

The printing process of licence cards was halted due to the breakdown of the card producing machine.

The machine has already been repaired and has returned to South Africa from Germany.

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Mbalula further said during the briefing that driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) operating times will be extended to seven days a week, while the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) is already operating 24-hours a day to print cards to deal with the backlog.

The minister previously said the DLCA can produce 400,000 cards per month.

Last week, the Department of Transport told Parliament that the total backlog of driver’s licences that have to be renewed, stood at 2.1 million nationwide.

“Nationally, more than 1.2 million licences out of a total of 2.8 million expired licences are yet to be renewed,” the department said at the time.

The minister previously said the backlog will be cleared by September 2022.

Validity period

Meanwhile, Mbalula also gave an update on the potential extension the validity of licence cards from five years to 10 years.

The minister commissioned the RTMC to undertake research on possible changes to the renewal time-frames.

On Friday, he said the research process will be concluded on 30 April and an announcement will be made either in May or June.

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

“Various countries in the continent have renewal periods that range from two to five years and a number of other countries require renewal at anything from six to 15 years,” Mbalula said.

“The research will look at the co-relation between the renewal period and safety on our roads and what factors should be taken into account if we are to revise the current five-year validity period. This work is already underway and will be concluded by 30 April 2022,” he added.

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