Motorists can look forward to new driving licence cards captured by smart systems that could also be valid for longer. Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has announced Cabinet has approved replacing current driving licence cards with smart licence cards.
The card will be similar to the new ID card with secure design features and will comply with international licence standards. The current licence card was introduced in 1998.
“The new card will be piloted from 1 November, 2022 to the end of March 2024. The current licence card and the equipment used to produce it will be decommissioned on 1 April, 2024 with a five-year period of transition from the old card to the new card,” he said.
Minister Fikile Mbalula said the current licence cards would be valid until 31 March, 2029.
He said the backlog of driving licence renewals was cleared as of July. “We have been able to reduce the turnaround time for card production to pre-Covid levels and successfully reduced the waiting period for driving licence cards from 58 working days in April 2020 to 10 working days in July 2022,” he said.
The minister said he was concerned about the 1.2 million illegal drivers who have yet to renew their expired driving licences.
He said the implication was that a sizable number of motorists were driving without valid licences. “We have determined that 67% of those who have not renewed their driver’s licences were between the ages of 25 and 50 years,” he said.
Mbalula said an investigation found a majority of those not renewing their licences had infringements.
He said the proposal to Cabinet was to extend the renewal period from five years to between eight and 10 years.
Chief executive of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse Wayne Duvenage said more efficient systems were needed.
“However, efficiency should not cost us money. It should save money,” he added.
Duvenage said he was concerned that the shift to new technology would cost motorists more money. He also said he couldn’t understand why the minister was taking the issue of the licence renewal period to parliament when he had to power to implement it himself.
Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson for roads and transport Fred Nel said the DA welcomes an improved enrolment system to deal with vehicle licence bookings.
“The demand for slots currently outstrips the supply so any improvement was welcome. We also welcome the new driver’s licence card,” he said.
Nel called on Mbalula and government to extend ordinary vehicle licence card validity to at least 10 years.
“With proper information systems, driver behaviour can be monitored to determine whether a licensed driver should be retested, have a licence suspended or terminated,” he said.
– Citizen
