Those who have already renewed and wish to know if their licence cards have been printed are advised to forward their identity numbers to the following number 33214 via SMS to verify.
THURSDAY marked the end of the grace period for motorists whose driving licences expired between March 2020 and August 2021 to have them renewed.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO, Wayne Duvenage, advised people to challenge their fines received for an expired licence.
“We advise people to challenge their fines received for an expired licence, if they can demonstrate that they have attempted on a few occasions to have their licence renewed, but could not do so because either they will have screenshots of the online booking system being down, or rejecting their booking attempts etc, or photos/videos of long queues and inability to get into a centre to book their renewal etc,” said Duvenage.
He said if the government processes and systems have made it unreasonably difficult for people to have their licences renewed, a judge will be hard pressed to find someone guilty of an offence and hopefully, the fine and charge will be overturned.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on Thursday said driving licence centres in the majority of provinces are operating extended hours of service to assist motorists who wish to renew their documents.
RTMC spokesperson, Simon Zwane, said motorists who have missed the deadline are advised to obtain temporary driving licences to remain legal and compliant.
“Motorists are warned that law enforcement agencies will from this week go out to strictly apply the law against those with expired driving licences,” Zwane said..
He said no excuses will be entertained if motorists miss the deadline.
“No excuses will be entertained as the government has extended the validity period for these documents on numerous occasions and implemented extensive measures to assist motorists who wish to comply.
“Driving with expired driving licence cards will also have negative consequences in case of collisions as insurance companies may decline claims made by drivers who failed to renew their cards,” Zwane said.
He said the backlog of driving licence cards that have not been renewed stood at 1.3 million at the beginning of May with the majority of non-renewals (68%) being in the group aged between 25 and 50 years.
Zwane said those who have already renewed and wish to know if their licence cards have been printed are advised to forward their identity numbers to the following number 33214 via SMS to verify.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula last week said the department would not extend the grace period.
