Mbalula taxi industry bailout

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula / Image via Twitter: Minister of Transport |Mr Fix
@MbalulaFikile

Welcome relief: Expired driver’s licences now valid until August 2021

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has gazetted a new directive which has brought about quite a hefty extension for expired driver’s licences.

Mbalula taxi industry bailout

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”. 

EXTENSION: WHICH LICENCES WILL REMAIN VALID? 

According to Mbalula, the following licences will be deemed valid until next year; 

  • All learners licences; 
  • Driving licence cards;
  • Temporary driving licence cards; and 
  • Professional driving permits. 

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.

WILL THOSE WHO RENEWED THEIR LICENSE THIS YEAR BE GIVEN A REFUND? 

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.”

BACKLOG OF RENEWALS IN GAUTENG 

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; 

  • 70% of capacity (human resource and equipment) at the DLTC’s will be dedicated to the renewal of driving licence cards; 
  • 70% of slots on the online booking system will be dedicated to expired driving licence cards; 
  • Two satellite centres will be opened at the RTMC offices in Centurion and Midrand; 
  • A task team has been established to advise the Gauteng Department of Transport on the procurement of mobile centres; 
  • Extended operational hours will be introduced and all centres will open from Monday to Sunday; 
  • All DLTC’s falling under the Tshwane Metro will open for operation from 6:00 starting from December; and
  • An operations centre will be opened to monitor operations at DLTC’s and evaluate the availability of booking slots.