Johannesburg – Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has announced the introduction of new driver’s licence cards, which will be piloted from November next year until March 2024.
The new driver’s licences have been approved by Cabinet, Mbalula said yesterday in Johannesburg.
The government has been under pressure to introduce driving licence cards with a 10-year validity period.
AfriForum had threatened to take the government to court over the matter.
There were also serious backlogs experienced with the cards during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
In introducing the incoming smart card-like new drivers licence, Mbalula said the new cards were more secure.
“I am pleased to announce that Cabinet has approved the replacement of the current driving licence card with a new card with more secure design features and will 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,” he said.
Mbalula said the equipment used to produce the current driver’s licence cards would be decommissioned on April 1, 2024.
He said there would be a five-year transition period between the old driver’s licence cards and the new ones.
Mbalula also said over 1.2 million motorists hadn’t renewed their driver’s licences, with 67% of those between the ages of 25 and 50 years; 15% between the 50-60, and 17% above 60.
He said the implications of this was that there were over million drivers driving illegally. He said officers would act harshly against motorists with expired driver’s licences.
He said those who did not renew their licences had infringements.
Mbalula also said they had cleared the backlog which had been caused during the Covid-19 pandemic. They had managed to reduce waiting periods to 10 working days from a high of 58 working days during the lockdown period.
“To date, in excess of two million cards have been produced. Not only have we been able to reduce the turn-around time for our card production to pre-Covid levels; we have now improved on those levels,” he said.
IOL