Another licence shock

2003-04-20 20:22

Rajaa Azzakani

Johannesburg - Thousands of motorists in Gauteng who skipped the driver's licence queues by paying private companies as much as R500 to stand in line for them, have been taken for a ride and may soon find out that their card format licences are invalid.

Motorists throughout Johannesburg will have to reapply for their licences in person where irregular procedures were used before the February 28 deadline for conversion to the card format.

Sizwe Matshikiza, spokesperson for the Gauteng department of transport, said many of the private licensing agencies did not follow the licensing regulations.

Sisa Mvumvu, the general manager of Johannesburg Metro licensing department, warned that licences issued by illegal agencies would be withdrawn.

He said many private licensing agencies used unregistered optometrists and stolen forms for the fingerprint tests.

He added that an internal investigation has already resulted in the suspension of two officials in the licensing department and that at least four agencies were under investigation.

"Many people have applied through private providers under the impression the process was legal. However, in the majority of cases a number of steps were incorrectly applied," Ronnie Molao, deputy director of the Johannesburg Metro licensing department, added.

Onus on motorists

Lisa Mangcu, spokesperson for the department of transport, warned that the department would not be informing victims of illegal agencies of the validity of their new driver's licences.

He said the onus was on motorists to find out whether their licences were issued legally and warned that anyone who used a third party to obtain a licence should contact the department to find out whether their licences were valid.

With only six working days to go before the April 30 deadline for conversion, more than one million motorists have not yet applied.

In Gauteng, which claims that 78% of motorists had applied for the new licence, 474 880 applications are still outstanding.

The outstanding applications for other provinces are: Eastern Cape 57 297, Free State 60 096, KwaZulu-Natal 169 248, Mpumalanga 60 969, North West 31 854, Northern Cape 17 589, Limpopo 45 511 and Western Cape 152 502.

In the past week only 2 051 motorists applied for the new card licences countrywide, while 1 069 946 conversions were still outstanding.

National and provincial authorities have warned motorists that they could be fined between R500 and R1 500 for driving without a valid card licence after May 1.

- Beeld