Driving licence backlog being addressed

The transport department has a backlog of 324‚000 driving licence cards that are yet to be printed because of delays caused by a labour dispute.

“Between July and December, we received more than a million card orders and have printed more than 700‚000,” transport minister Blade Nzimande said.

The 324‚000 cards would be printed in the next three weeks.

Nzimande was monitoring a contingency plan to recover production time lost during the dispute with employees who were contracted to the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA).

“To recover the lost production time‚ the DLCA has been implementing a contingency plan to adhere to standard production practices and reduce the waiting period‚” the minister said.

The affected employees resumed work in December‚ pending the finalisation of the dispute at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council.

The dispute occurred during the annual maintenance period when production machines were serviced.

Nzimande said his department had issued a directive to provincial and municipal traffic authorities not to penalise motorists who renewed their driving licences, but had not received them.

“Where drivers have already been fined by traffic officers‚ they must apply for the revocation of enforcement order through the Road Traffic Infringement Agency,” he said.

The form to be completed could be downloaded from www.aarto.gov.za and e-mailed to revocation@rtia.co.za, or phone the call centre on 086-122-7861.

Motorists who renewed their driving licences three months before expiration are also exempt from fines, as are new licence applicants.