Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula / Image via Twitter: Minister of Transport |Mr Fix
@MbalulaFikile
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has gazetted a new directive which has brought about quite a hefty extension for expired driver’s licences.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula / Image via Twitter: Minister of Transport |Mr Fix
@MbalulaFikile
Good news drivers, you have been granted an extension. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula signed a gazette on Thursday 3 December 2020, indicating that driver’s licences that expired in the last nine months of this year will be deemed valid for a certain “grace period”.
According to Mbalula, the following licences will be deemed valid until next year;
Licence discs, however, will not form part of the extension. The amendment will come into effect on the day of publication which is Thursday 3 December 2020.
If any of the above licences expired in the period of 26 March 2020 to 31 December 2020, they will be deemed valid for a grace period ending 31 August 2021. In other words, if your licence has expired in the last nine months, you have until the end of August 2021 to get it renewed.
“This extension will open up slots for disk renewals at our DLTCs. You can call me Santa Mbaks, your Christmas just got merrier,” Mbalula said.
A Twitter user responded to the minister saying surely the people who renewed licences this year deserve refunds. Mbalula responded saying;
“You are supposed to renew your licence anyway. We insist that people use the grace period to renew their licences and not wait until it’s over. We have a backlog on the system and this is one of the measures used to address it.”
Last month Mbalula made an unannounced visit to a Driving Licensing Testing Centre (DLTC) in Hammanskraal. There, he said the public continues to experience challenges in booking slots for their renewals.
He said the following would be done to improve the current situation;