Transport Minister Mbalula reveals new driving licence on cards

TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula has announced a new driving licence that will be piloted from November 1 2023 until March 31 2024.

Mbalula, with management from the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), provided an update on driving licensing interventions and progress on Friday.

He said that during their previous briefing on the driving licence card backlog, the Department of Transport reported the backlog from the Covid-19 restrictions had been cleared on July 14.

“To date, in excess of 2 million cards have been produced. Not only have we been able to reduce the turnaround time for our card production to pre-Covid levels, we have now improved on those levels,” Mbalula said.

He said the department was concerned about the high number of people who have yet to renew their expired driving licences, which stands at 1.2 million.

The minister said the department determined that 67% of those who have not renewed their licences were between the ages of 25 and 50 years old, 15% between 50 and 60, and 17% over 60.

According to the department, the most compliant group were the 25-year-olds and younger, who accounted for 1% of drivers who have yet to renew their licences.

Mbalula further said the department was introducing a smart enrolment solution to improve the service to motorists and cut turnaround times at drivers licence testing centres (DLTCs).

“This solution has been successfully piloted at the Waterfall and Eco-Park Centurion DLTCs and Gauteng will be the first to go live in March 2023, before the full deployment to other provinces,” he said.

He said the Cabinet had approved the replacement of the current driving licence card with a new card that had more secure design features and would comply with the international driving licence standard.

“The current driving licence card was introduced in 1998 and the production equipment was procured in the same year. The technology has become obsolete,” Mbalula said.

The department will publish the changes to the driving licence card in the Government Gazette to enable the department to commence with the procurement process for the new production infrastructure in October 2022.

The new card will be piloted from November 1, 2023 until March 31, 2024, according to the Transport Department.

“However, there will be a 5-year period of transition from the old card to the new. The current cards will continue to be recognised as valid licence cards until March 31, 2029,” Mbalula said.

He added that the department will up the ante in the law enforcement’s efforts to bring to book wayward motorists who have no regard for the law or the safety of others on the road.

The Star