New laws for driving licence testing centres in South Africa are coming
The government has opened the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill for public comment, with South Africans having until 27 March to have their say on the new laws.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly on 27 September 2022, and sent to the National Council of Provinces for Concurrence.
The proposed laws initially sought to make wide-sweeping changes to South Africa’s road laws, including introducing a new provisional driving licence and reducing the allowable alcohol content in a driver’s bloodstream to zero. However, both of these changes were ultimately rejected.
The bill is now more focused on tackling corruption at driving licence testing centres and clamping down on manufacturers of number plates.
It also wants to introduce a grading system for training centres, as well as register them to cut down on opportunities for corruption to filter through the system.
Investigations carried out by the Special Investigating Unit in 2022 found massive issues with South Africa’s licencing regime, including corruption at Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs).
On top of major backlogs in processing licences, the unit found corrupt officials and criminal middlemen were rampantly exploiting weaknesses in the systems while incompetent and negligent officials were making it easy for them to do so.
The SIU said there was a lack of understanding of operating procedures, inadequate monitoring and compliance, and no cooperation between local authorities, testing centres and private institutions – all while operating with no agreed-upon minimum performance standards and lines of accountability.
Some of the more notable corrupt activities included:
- Roadworthy certificates issued without vehicles being tested;
- Unlawful selling of licences by DLTC officials to private persons;
- Money dumping. This relates to traffic fines, SANRAL e-toll invoices, AARTO infringements, Licence fees dumped on a deceased person’s records or persons with duplicate identifications in the form of a South African identity number of Traffic Register Number;
- Driving schools paying driving licence examiners to issue licences irregularly and/or fraudulently; and
- The conversion of false foreign licences into South African Card licences.
The SIU has until 31 March 2023 to complete investigations into corruption at DLTCs and table a final report.
The coming laws, which are open for public comment, aim to address at least some of the concerns raised by the SIU.
Former transport minister Fikile Mbalula said that the new laws would provide the department with more instruments to “aggressively tackle the intractable challenge of corruption that continues to bedevil the vehicle and driver licensing system”.
He said that the regulation of driving schools through the legislation would also enable closer scrutiny of the conduct of driving schools and ensure that uniform standards applied to all of them.
Broadly, the new laws aim to amend the National Road Traffic Act, 1996, so as to:
- Insert new definitions and to amend others;
- Provide for the suspension and cancellation of the registration of an examiner for driving licences or an examiner of vehicles, if such person has been convicted of an offence or has a direct or indirect conflict of interest;
- Provide for the registration and grading of training centres;
- Further provide for the registration of manufacturers, builders, body builders, importers and manufacturers of number plates, including manufacturers of reflective sheeting for number plates, suppliers of blank number plates, suppliers of reflective sheeting for number plates, embossers of number plates, weighbridge facilities, manufacturers of microdots, suppliers of microdots and microdot fitment centres;
- Extend the right to appeal to a manufacturer of blank number plates, manufacturer of reflective sheeting for number plates, supplier of blank number plates, supplier of reflective sheeting for number plates, embosser of number plates, weighbridge facility, manufacturer of microdots, supplier of microdots and microdot fitment centres;
- Require a provincial Department responsible for transport or local authority to register a driving licence testing centre before operating as a driving licence testing centre;
- Further provide for the appointment of inspectorate of manufacturers, building, body builders, importers, including inspectorates of number plates, microdots and weighbridge facilities;
- Prohibit the wilful or negligent issuing of a learner’s licence or authorising the issue of a learner’s licence, endorsing or failure to endorse a learner’s licence, or to produce, print or manufacture any document similar to a learner’s licence, contrary to Chapter IV of the National Road Traffic Act, 1996;
- Prohibit the use of unauthorised aid during a test for a learner’s licence or a driving licence test, and the disqualification thereof;
- Provide for the registration and grading of driving school instructors; to provide for the registration and grading of driving schools;
- Regulate further on international driving permits and foreign driving licence and permits; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Submissions can be emailed to Hlupheka Mtileni at [email protected] by no later than Monday 27 March, 2023.
Read: New laws coming to South Africa in the next few months