Gauteng motorists can request preferred driver’s licence renewal centres, says MEC

Motorists can send an email to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) to request a slot at their preferred licensing department.

“We acknowledge people might have secured slots too far away, so we want you to identify your preferred place,” said provincial public transport and roads infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo.

Speaking at a briefing in Midrand on Tuesday, Mamabolo announced measures the department would take to deal with the drivers’ licence renewal backlog in the province.

Mamabolo said the department would introduce a campaign called “Request A Slot”.

Ashraf Moosa, a software developer at RTMC, said motorists are given the opportunity to choose two preferred centres for their renewals. “For example, if you live in the city of Tshwane, you can choose Centurion as your first preference, and if you work in Midrand, you can choose that as your second preference,” he said.

“When we do authentication of slots for you, we will see your preferred centre. We will do our best to give you a slot at your preferred centre. If we can’t, you will fall back to the second preferred centre with the hope one of the two will allocate you a slot.”

Mamabolo said they were expecting a slow start to the campaign in September but it should gain momentum in October.

While many log into the eNatis website day and night to snatch time slots for driving licence renewals, thousands make bookings but do not show up. A total of 130,000 Gauteng motorists made bookings but did not honour them, Mamabolo said.

He commended the more than 500,000 motorists who “went out their way” to take up their slots.

At the briefing it was announced that nationally, 1.2-million drivers had not renewed their licences and 2.8-million licences had expired.

Mamabolo said in Gauteng 437,000 licences had not been renewed.

“A person who did not request a slot and a person who did not honour their appointment can’t be defined as part of the backlog. We can’t force people to take up their slots. It takes a partnership to work together and properly.”

TimesLIVE