South Africans are required by law to renew their driver’s licence cards every five years, and the reason we endure the torturous long lines and heaps of paperwork, not to mention the anxiety caused by the hope that we have all the necessary documents required, triple checking the proof of address just in case it ran off since you last checked it 5 minutes ago, is only because of the longevity of the paper your licence is printed on.
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This is According to court documents filed by the Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, in the Afriforum court case. The material the cards were originally made from was believed to only last five years.
The Civil rights organization, Afriforum took legal action against the Department of Transport at the beginning of 2022 and argues that there is no plausible reason for the five-year renewal of the driver’s licence card that is enforced on South Africans without any valid legislation behind it.
Afriforum went on to say that the renewal of the driver’s licence cards is inconsistent with the National Road Traffic Act.
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The civil rights organization said, “Afriforum’s legal action aims to obtain a court order stating that the legislation that purports to prescribe the five-year renewal period for driving license cards is unreasonable, arbitrary, and vague.”
The Department of Transport is now considering extending the renewal period from five years to ten years. Afriforum will continue with its legal action with the goal of obtaining a court order stating that the five-year renewal period for driver’s licence cards is arbitrary and motorists should not be penalised for driving with an expired driver’s licence card and the renewal period of drivers licence cards should be scrapped.
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