“Mr Fix” leaves driver’s licence system in chaos

3 years ago 1

ARTICLE AD BOX

Former transport minister Fikile Mbalula is taking up the ANC’s secretary-general role, and he will be replaced in the ministerial position by Sindisiwe Chikunga. However, Mbalula has left the driving licence system in chaos.

This is according to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which said Mbalula had left the multitude of driving licence card renewal system issues unresolved.

“The Minister appears to have done little to resolve the chaos in his portfolio,” Outa said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a slew of changes to his cabinet on Monday, 6 March 2023.

Mbalula winning the position of ANC secretary-general necessitated that he make way for the former deputy minister of transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, as the country’s new transport minister.

Outa highlighted several key issues it wants to be addressed for the betterment of South African motorists. These include:

The extension of the validity of driver’s licence cards;
The procurement and operation of a new licence card production machine to replace the problematic machine currently in use; and,
The devisement of a plan to combat widespread corruption and waste relating to the Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) system and other transport entities.

These are all issues the outgoing minister should have addressed, and while he spoke of plans to tackle these problems, it appears as if nothing has been done.

“At the end of the day, the buck stops with the Minister of Transport,” Outa senior legal project manager, Andrea van Heerden, said.

The civil action group called on the minister to publish regulations relating to extending the driver’s licence card validity period. It wants an extension of the validity period from five to ten years.

Outa highlighted that an extension only requires updated regulations — a far more straightforward process than changing legislation.

It noted that then-transport minister Dipuo Peters had gazetted regulations for an extension but later withdrew them without explanation.

“We respectfully do not understand the delay as the Minister can easily effect the change by publishing the new regulations in the Government Gazette,” Van Heerden said.

In October 2022, Mbalula said he would propose to Ramaphosa’s cabinet that the validity period of driving licence cards in South Africa be extended from five to eight years.

While Outa believes this would be a step in the right direction, it wasn’t happy with the minister’s approach to passing the legislation, and more than four months later, it appears as if nothing has been done.

Outa filed an application with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), calling for a copy of the research report on the validity period to clarify how the eight-year period was decided and for clarity on the fees.

However, the RTMC refused, and Outa subsequently filed an internal appeal against the refusal. It is still awaiting the outcome.

Dodgy card production machine

South Africa’s current driving licence card printing machine has been in and out of action twice over the past two years, causing significant renewal and application backlogs when it is unavailable.

Outa wants to know why the country is still waiting for the new machine for producing driving licence cards after Mbalula, in January 2022, announced plans to procure a new machine and produce new driver’s licences.

“On 10 November 2022, the Department of Transport issued the tender for the provision of a turnkey solution for smart licence cards, including the provision, installation and maintenance of a new machine, on a five-year contract,” Outa said.

“The closing date was 30 November, just 20 days after publication although this was subsequently extended.”

It is unclear who has bid for the tender or whether it has been awarded.