BUSINESS NEWS - There will not be any further extensions to the driving licence renewal grace period beyond 31 March for motorists whose driving licences expired during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Department of Transport (DoT) confirmed this on Tuesday, and said that as at 15 March, there were still 1 433 835 driving licence cards that fall within the grace period that have not been renewed.
As at 3 February, renewal applications had not yet been made for 2.1 million driving licences nationwide that will have expired by 31 March.
“The department has called for and is encouraging all motorists whose driving licences are due for renewal to make use of the renewal period and apply for renewal of their driving licences within the stipulated time frame as there will be no further extension afforded.
Some centers open seven days a week
“There are DLTCs [Driving Licence Test Centres] in the Gauteng province that operate from 07:00 to 21:00, seven days a week in order to assist with the backlog. In addition, other provinces have extended operating hours over weekends to assist many more motorists,” the DoT said.
The large number of motorists who have not yet applied to renew their expired licences led to renewed calls by both the Automobile Association (AA) and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) on Wednesday for a further extension of the grace period.
The grace period deadline applies to driving licence cards that expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021.
The DoT said it is anticipated that the backlog in the printing of driving licence cards caused by the breakdown between November 2021 and January 2022 of the machine that produces these cards will be cleared by April 2022.
However, it said a backlog has also been experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic grace period and it is anticipated that this backlog will be cleared by September 2022.
But this means there will be motorists who will be driving without a valid driving licence through no fault of their own and despite applying for a renewal of their licence before the end of the grace period.
