Massive car licence rush expected to hit South Africa

The City of Cape Town says that it expects car licence renewals to ‘peak’ in the coming months as part of a knock-on effect caused by the Covid-19 lockdown and licence extensions.

The city said that it expects July and August 2021 to be the peak in renewals, as many licences will expire on 31 August 2021, with a due date of 22 September 2021.

This is due to the Covid-19 lockdown extension given to motorists whose motor vehicle licences expired in March, April and May 2020, it said.

It warned further that Covid-19 will continue to have a material impact on its operations, and that motorists should plan ahead of time.

“We will continue to have unplanned and sudden office openings and closures to ensure the safety of our staff and customers,” said the city’s executive deputy mayor, Ian Neilson.

“The Covid-19 regulations will continue to affect staff complements at times and we will continue to experience the intermittent national system problems that we have seen over the past year.

“These problems affect the city’s service delivery, but are unfortunately not within our control.”

Neilson said that motorists need to be proactive and check the expiry date on their licence discs, and start the renewal process at least a month or two in advance of their due date or within the grace period.

“This will make a huge difference to all and enable motorists to successfully apply for their licences online via e-Services,” Neilson said.

The City of Cape Town said that the length of queues at motor licensing offices have been reducing in general. However, it may still seem long due to the social distancing and other Covid-19 measures that are in place, it said.

“If customers must visit a customer office in person, please remember that there is Covid-19 screening at the entrances and a limited number of customers are allowed in at a time due to Covid-19 regulations.”

“Social distancing is required and must be adhered to and masks are compulsory.” It added that motorists only need their ID for motor vehicle licensing and registration renewals.

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