WATCH: Cops clamp down on licence offenders

The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and the transport department yesterday conducted an operation on the corners of Malibongwe Drive and Republic Road in Randburg to check whether vehicle licence discs were valid.

JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla said motorists were given enough grace period to renew their license disc in lockdown. He said any motorist caught with an expired licence disc would be issued a fine

“Our end goal for the operation is to avoid accidents which are caused by nonroadworthy vehicles.

“All vehicles travelling on our roads need to be roadworthy, safe and reliable for passengers to use. “Drivers need to regularly check their vehicles and ensure they are driving a vehicle with a valid license disc. The department gave motorists until 22 September to solve this,” Fihla said.

Fihla said if motorists’ vehicles breached three conditions, their driver’s licence and licence disc would be confiscated. He said the defects could be worn out tires, lights which aren’t working and broken seats in public transport transport vehicles. “Motorists have until December to renew their learners and license cards if they have expired,” Fihla said.

Cloepas Sibanda, a taxi driver who was pulled over, was forced to return his passengers’ money because his disk had expired in 2018. Sibanda said he was not aware of the expired disc.

“It is difficult. There are no jobs and if our taxi is taken from us we are going to suffer during the lockdown,” he said.

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