The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has rejected claims that motorists will be charged a new R250 payment to make an online booking for a slot in the queue to renew a driving licence, saying it is an existing fee.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) on Tuesday claimed it was a new fee proposed in the draft Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) Regulations 2021, which amend the 2007 regulations, and the announcement got social media users hot under the collar.
However, RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane said Outa was mistaken.
“This is an existing fee. The only difference is that motorists will be able to pay it online, if they so choose, rather than to go and queue at a driving licence testing centre (DLTC). It is definitely not new,” he told TimesLIVE.
Outa said fees were excessive and government’s role is to make it easy for the public to obtain driving licences and renew these when required. It also criticised the high R700 fee for the online registration of a motor vehicle.
The gazetted notice, with details for submitting comment, is here.
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula recently extended the grace period for the renewal of expired driving licences to March 31 2022 due to a huge backlog.
All learner’s licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expired between March 26 2020 and August 31 2021 are deemed to be valid until the new date.
This follows an earlier grace period extension to August 31 announced last December.
Mbalula said the latest extension was to deal with the massive backlog caused by the closure of DLTCs due to Covid-19, faulty equipment and systems, and corruption where officials sold online block bookings for bribes.
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