The South African government faces a significant crisis of legitimacy in its inability to address simple public service shortcomings. The renewal backlog of driving license cards is a case in point dealt with in this study. One key problem with this issue is the fiscal context in which it is transpiring. Motorists are already heavily taxed and paying renewal fees on such a regular basis is an additional ‘user-pays’ tax. This issue must be addressed. The solution proposed in this report would not cost anything other than a foregoing of revenue for specific public entities, which can be offset by reduced administration costs. Technical challenges include dysfunctional equipment and online booking system, reduced capacity in testing centres and corruption, which result in motorists being unable to secure bookings in time to meet deadlines for the renewal of their driving license cards.
For years South Africans have been experiencing challenges with renewing their driving license discs and cards. This causes havoc as some people are forced to be absent from work to go to the centres, without any guarantee that this would yield a successful renewal. Some motorists pay others to queue for them, and in many cases, bribes are paid from the security gate onwards for them to secure a spot in line. Under the current government regulations, South African drivers must renew their driving licence once every five years. Motorists must apply four weeks before the expiry date. Those who miss the deadline will not be legally allowed to drive and run the risk of having their vehicle insurance claims denied if they happen to be involved in an accident during the lapsed period. In this case, they must obtain a temporary driver’s licence at an additional cost while waiting for their official licence to be issued.
In South Africa, dependence on privately owned cars and taxis to meet transport needs has been increased significantly over the last few years because investment in public transport has been minimal, and the retained capital expenditure has not yielded adequate results. According to Expatica (2021), automobiles are the preferred mode of transportation. Lifestyle changes such as increased affluence, extended family dispersion, and increased longevity have further increased automobile dependence (Expatica, 2021). Approximately 1.4 million applications have been affected by the backlog. There are cards renewal delays in the paper application processing due to social distancing and the lack of sufficient and efficient staff members at the centres. The outbreak of COVID 19 is an unprecedented challenge for transport authorities (Expatica, 2021). According to Ngqakamba (2020), nationally, 1.2 million driving licenses (42.4%) of the 2.8 million expired have not been renewed. Gauteng, with its high population has the most unrenewed card licenses (437,819) with a total of 45% backlog. The province experienced a capacity challenge that resulted in the unavailability of booking slots.
A more cost-effective solution may be extending the validity of driving license cards from 5 years to 10 years. Currently, the Department of Transport acknowledges the failures that are observed and experienced by motorists. Those failures suggest that the current system in not working according to plan. There are simple alternatives. In Europe, 10 to 15-year driving license renewal frequencies provide more freedom to drivers whilst reinforcing security, backed up with the electronic data exchange systems (European Commission, 2013). The USA has a penalty system on the termination of driving licenses that can be applied to the current RSA system to avoid corruption and speed up the renewal process (South African Consulate General, 2018). The penalty system is the biproduct. Based on this, it is suggested that the South African government creates an online application that can address the highlighted issues by extending their licensing to a ten-year period to alleviate the backlog (Ngqakamba, 2020) and provide space for the Department to implement more time-consuming improvements.
The research shows great concerns about the backlogs as it negatively impacts effective enforcement of laws as well as the levels of voluntary compliance with licensing requirements. Some of the concerns include significant pressure on driving license testing centres in processing DL card renewal (Ngqakamba, 2020). Another concern is that bribery is common amongst the officials who are involved in booking and ‘selling’ slots. Unavailability and insufficient broadband to move the data of the Natis system is also a cause of frustration for motorists (and officials) renewing their licenses (Mpyane, P., 2021). Another important finding of this research is that the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions have led to the Driving Licence Testing Centres closure, thus resulting in the significant increase in backlogs. Therefore, to provide motorists with an opportunity for driving license card renewal while rolling out the different actions to improve efficiencies and resolve challenges, it is sensible to extend the license renewal period from 5 to 10 years (Ngqakamba, 2020). To provide a fair opportunity to motorists for the driving license card renewal, SA should roll out several measures to resolve challenges and improve efficiencies, starting with extending the period from 5 to 10 years, which is a simple intervention that would not cost the taxpayer a cent, but would save motorists time and money without derogating from compliance with important ‘rules of the road’ (Ngqakamba, 2020). It will also help improve the manageability and administration of the process of renewal by under capacitated DLTCs, which is recommended in the context of the on-going uncertainties during the pandemic as well as allow South Africa to be aligned to international best practice standards (Ngqakamba, 2020).
Further to the above discussion it is important to note that a Government Gazette, with No.37048 was published (by the Honourable Minister at that time Dipuo Peters) on 19 November 2013, amending Regulation 108(5)(a) of the National Road Traffic Regulations, extending the period of driver’s license cards validity from 5 to 10 years. Unfortunately, on 31 October 2014 a further amendment was published in the Government Gazette No.38142, which again amended the entire Regulation 108 and affectively changed the period back to 5 years. Generally, Section 75 of the National Road Traffic Act, no 93 of 1996, empowers the Minister of Transport to after consultation with the MECs make regulations not inconsistent with this Act, in respect of any matter contemplated, required or permitted to be prescribed in terms of this Act.
Although the South Africa government has blamed Covid-19 for the inefficiencies and the delays in driving license renewal, it only amplified an existing problem. The problem that has thus been overlooked is a procedural flaw exacerbated by layers of institutional ineptitude and inefficiency. This precipitates in measurable dissatisfaction among road users, and ultimately erodes public trust in the laws designed to protect them. South African officials state that the main reason for the high DL card renewal backlog is the 1) incapacity or lacking capacity of DL training centres; 2) corrupt official practices; 3) unavailability and slow processing speed of the Natis system, and 4) failed equipment processes. Extending the validity of driving licenses from five to ten years is a simple intervention that is affordable in terms of both money and time – two rare commodities in South African society. This interim intervention, which should be permanent nevertheless, will provide for more fundamental changes to the process. OUTA therefore strongly recommends this extension, which can easily be affected by the Minister by publishing new Regulations in the Government Gazette and contends that it will eliminate, or at least alleviate, the current and otherwise inevitable future backlogs that incur wasted time, money, and stress.
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