Payment for temporary driver’s licences still applies, despite Creecy’s promise to the contrary

Soundbite: Louis Boshoff (English)

AfriForum has received confirmation from the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) national call centre that payment for the acquisition of temporary driver’s licences still applies. This is although Barbara Creecy, Minister of Transport, has already promised several times in parliament and the media that this fee will be scrapped amid the ongoing backlog in the issuance of driver’s licence cards. The civil rights organisation is now urging the minister to immediately scrap the fee.

In response to parliamentary questions and media enquiries, Creecy said that a decision was made at a ministerial meeting on 27 June to scrap the fee, which amounts to R72 per temporary licence. She reiterated the decision in parliament last month, adding that it had been communicated to the various heads of departments. However, on 13 October, the RTMC’s national office confirmed to AfriForum by telephone and email that the R72 fee for a temporary licence still applies. This claim was also confirmed by two licence renewal centres in Gauteng.

According to AfriForum, the Minister is misleading the public, the media and parliament by claiming that the fee on these licences was scrapped as a concession to the problems with the issuing of new licences. In addition, money is still being collected for an unusually large number of temporary licences.

“If the Minister already decided on 27 June that these licences should be free, why do they still impose the R72 fee?” asks Louis Boshoff, AfriForum Spokesperson. “One could have given the Minister the benefit of the doubt shortly after the decision was made and assumed that the implementation of the decision would take time, but if she is still making the same claims three months later, when it has not yet been implemented on the ground, it amounts to blatant dishonesty.”

Meanwhile, AfriForum is considering legal action to force the Minister to implement this decision as announced in parliament. The organisation further emphasises that the crisis will continue as long as one or more new functional driver’s license card printers that can print licenses quickly and reliably are not purchased.