All South Africa’s vehicle testing stations, vehicle-registering authorities and driver’s-licence testing centres are closed until Friday, the Department of Transport said on Tuesday.
The closure is due to the upgrading of the old National Transport Information System (NaTIS) to the new eNaTIS system, transport spokesperson Ntau Letebele said.
The new service is electronic and means traffic-related transactions may be done through automated teller machines (ATMs) and the internet.
”By Friday, people will be able to relicense their vehicles without having to queue for long periods, or pay traffic fines through ATMs,” he said.
Work has already started on transferring data from the ageing, 14-year-old NaTIS system to eNaTIS.
NaTIS records vehicle registration and licensing details; records and manages the licensing of drivers and learner drivers; circulates details of stolen vehicles; and records South African Bureau of Standards safety decisions.
It administers R3-billion a year and is used at more than 1 753 sites throughout the country, doing about 40 000 transactions an hour.
Through the new system, the department hopes to ”validate examiners, testing centres and appointments, and prevent unscrupulous officials from abusing the system by extorting money from the public in order to obtain driving-licence appointments”, said Letebele.
The closure means the following transactions will not be processed until Friday:
- renewal of vehicle licences;
- registration of motor vehicles;
- roadworthy tests; and
- applications for and tests for learner’s and driver’s licences.
The new system is online at Enatis.com and due to be up and running on Friday. — Sapa