Mbalula describes protest by driving schools as anarchy

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has described the actions of protesting driving school operators over problems surrounding the National Administration Traffic Information System (NaTIS) as nothing but anarchy.

Mbalula was addressing the media during an oversight of the Akasia Driver’s Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) in Tshwane on Monday where a number of protesters had gathered with placards calling for better online services.

The transport minister said the primary objective of the Transport Department is to make acquiring driver’s licences for motorists as simple as possible.

Mbalula called the protesters’ actions tantamount to anarchy.

“That particular concern is disingenuous and it is anarchy. One thing we must understand is that anarchists hire a state of disorder. There must be no law, people must not be governed, they must come break doors, do everything and claim that things are not working because it affects their pockets. The way they used to do things is not the way we are going. We want people to get driver’s licence easily.”

Mbalula said concerns surrounding the NaTIS online system will be addressed.

“If the online [system] we launched is not working, it’s a genuine concern which we must be able to attend to. Here is the CEO of RTMC (Makhosini Msibi). If he made me launch something that is not working, I’m here, he must account because that system must work because I want people to get their driver’s licences easy, simple as that.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the capacity to issue sufficient renewed driver’s licences in Gauteng is not enough to eradicate the backlog caused by Covid-19.

The party said that during the lockdown in 2020 motorists were not able to renew their driver’s licences and only two extensions were granted.

In a statement, the DA’s Gauteng Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport Fred Nel said the introduction of more online transactional services by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) can assist in alleviating the pressure on DLTCs in Gauteng and relieve pressure on the bottlenecks experienced at DLTCs.

“We call on the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, to provide one last extension for the validity of licences that expired during Covid-19 so that Gauteng can deal with its backlog.”

The final deadline for the renewal of driver’s licences that expired during the lockdown period is 31 March 2022.

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