The validity period has been extended to 15 April 2022.
Motorists have been given another two weeks to renew driver’s licences that expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 March 2022 after transport minister Fikile Mbalulu’s amendment was gazetted on Thursday.
“All learner’s licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expire during the period that commenced from 26 March 2020 up to and including 31 March 2022 are deemed to be valid and their validity periods are extended for a further grace period ending on 15 April 2022,” according to the amendment, made in accordance with the Disaster Management Act.
But civil action group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said that another extension was “definitely not enough” as the department of transport continues to grapple with a backlog of card renewals that exceed one million.
Mabula previously admitted that the department would only catch up with its Covid-19 backlog by September 2022.
According to Outa’s executive director for its accountability division, Stefanie Fick, the two-week extension was a “small victory” that is “not enough”.
“Two weeks is not enough for the department to catch up. Two weeks is not enough for them to deal with the systemic issues that are in the department,” she said.
The department of transport has been struggling to introduce a smart card driving licence since 2009, the M&G has previously reported.
Its inability to offer motorists smart cards was highlighted when South Africa’s sole driver’s licence card printing machine broke in November last year, bringing the printing of driving licences cards to a standstill for more than two months.
Fick reiterated Outa’s call for extending the validity of driver’s licence cards from five to 10 years. The civil action group has been in conversation with the department to this end and has been calling for such for years.
“It will not solve all the administrative and systemic issues, but it will definitely immediately alleviate the crisis that they currently have,” she said.