2.1 million driver’s licence backlog: Legal action looms over Mbalula’s renewal deadline

It looks like there will not be any further extensions to the driver’s licence renewal grace period beyond 31 March for motorists whose driving licences expired during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

There is a large number of motorists who have not yet applied to renew their expired licences leading to calls by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and the Automobile Association (AA) for a further extension of the grace period.

Both organisations have appealed to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to reconsider extending the grace period with the minister set to provide an update regarding the driver’s licence on Friday.

He was expected to address motorists on Thursday, but the media briefing was postponed.

“Today’s planned media engagement was postponed due to cabinet commitments,” he said in a tweet.

Mbalula recently indicated that he would be making an announcement about the cost of temporary driver’s licences particularly because of the problems experienced at Driving Licence Test Centres (DLTCs) and the breakdown of the card producing machine.

Renewal backlog

The minister previously announced a grace period for licences that had expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021, which he subsequently extended to 31 March 2022.

Motorists whose licences expired after 31 August are required to apply for a temporary driver’s licence as the grace period does not cover them.

At the time, the grace period was extended in order for the backlog of 1.2 million licence renewals to be cleared.

But since then the backlog has further been exacerbated by the driver’s licence card production machine breakdown, which has been repaired and returned to the country from Germany.

ALSO READ: Getting a driver’s licence renewed will ‘be easier’ from March 2022, assures Mbalula

Last week, the Department of Transport told Parliament that the total backlog of driving licences that will expire by 31 March, currently 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 was requested to look at alternative ways to deal with the driver’s licence backlogs such as extended hours,” the department said.

This is despite Mbalula’s claim that the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) can produce 400,000 cards per month.

Earlier this year, the minister said the backlog in issuing driver’s licences will be cleared by September 2022.

Legal action

The AA has called on Mbalula to extend the grace period given the problems encountered recently.

“We believe it’s unrealistic to expect that this enormous backlog to be cleared by tomorrow. This leaves hundreds of thousands of drivers without the necessary documents to be on the road legally,” the organisation 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.

“In addition, motorists may find themselves negatively impacted from an insurance perspective if they are involved in crashes,” the AA continued.

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

Meanwhile, Outa has warned the minister not to “start a war with motorists”.

“Administrative difficulties and significant backlogs in the renewal process of driver’s licence cards have been the order of the day long before the arrival of the pandemic or the breakdown of the card printing machine at the end of 2021.

“These problems are largely due to difficulties in securing bookings through the online booking system forced onto motorists,” Stefanie Fick, executive director of Outa’s accountability division said.

Outa says Mbalula is trying to deflect driver’s licence chaos

Fick said Outa had written to Mbalula to consider another extension

“Should the Minister not wish to extend the driver’s licence renewal deadline or the validity of driver’s licence cards, Outa proposes that law enforcement agencies be instructed to not issue fines for motorists whose driver’s licence cards have expired in the past 12 months, as this may lead to unlawful enforcement.

“The public’s inability to comply with the regulations is largely due to the department’s incompetence and the public shouldn’t be punished for it,” she said.

“Outa is considering a legal opinion that may lead to another civil disobedience campaign,” Fick added.

ALSO READ: Driver’s licence card backlog reduced ‘almost by half’, says Mbalula

AfriForum has already threatened legal action if the renewal deadline is not extended.

“The civil rights organisation is further considering the possibility of taking on a trial case in the event that the grace period is not extended, and a member of the public is punished for driving without a valid licence as a result of government’s own inability to provide this service.

“This may set a legal precedent confirming the unlawfulness of punishing members of the public for the department’s own service delivery failures,” the organization said on 8 March.