The Department of Transport has yet again extended the grace period for those with expired driving licences, this time to 5 May.
This applies to mense whose driving licence cards expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021.
During a media briefing ahead of the Easter Weekend, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula warned that due to the state of disaster ending, the department cannot extend the grace period again.
“The final opportunity is provided by the current Regulations which extends the grace period by 30 days from the date of the end of the state of disaster,” Mbalula said.
As the 31 March deadline for renewals loomed, the department initially extended the grace period to 15 April 2022.
According to the Ministry, at the end of March there was a backlog of 1 424 756 motorists who fell within the grace period but who had not yet applied for a new licence card.
Meanwhile the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has urged the Minister to engage with civil society and other stakeholders to address the impediments and design flaws that still exist within the online booking system, reports IOL.
“We furthermore urge the minister to make a decision on increasing the driver’s licence validity period from five to 10 years, which is common international practice and will go a long way to improving efficiency within government.
The public should not have to go through this renewal process every five years.”
Government has appointed a panel of researchers who are currently looking into the matter and a decision on whether or not to extend the validity period will be based on the findings of this study.