THE Road Traffic Management Corporation has announced that all licences which have expired from March 26 and including up to the end of August, will be valid until the end of January 2021.
The announcement came on Wednesday, July 22, after numerous calls to the Department of Transport for the grace period to be extended to 2021.
Wheels24’s Janine van der Post said, “This is such great news for all motorists.
“Everyone can now breathe a sigh of relief to have their legal road documents renewed. I am particularly happy for the elderly, and ill, who have been most concerned about the legality of their expired driving licences. I am also relieved for the thousands of learner licence holders who have been devastated about being turned away with no hope in sight, and who can now try to get those appointments booked online or at testing centres.
“The AA has been rallying the drive to #ExtendTheLicence with an online petition, which saw more than 20 000 signatures within a week, in a bid to get government to extend the grace period for expired licences to January 2021. We are pleased that their efforts have paid off.”
The RTMC said in a statement, “All learners’ licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expired from March 26 up to August 31, 2020, are extended to January 31, 2021.”
The new law published in the Government Gazette states the following:
“In these directions, the ‘Directions’ mean the directions on measures to address, prevent, and combat the spread of COVID-19: determination of extension for validity period of learners’ licences, driving licence cards, licence discs, professional driving permits and registrations of motor vehicles, published under government notice No.544, in Government Gazette No.43339 of May 20, 2020:
“1. All learners’ licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expired from March 26 up to August 31, 2020 are extended to January 31, 2021.
“2. All motor vehicle licence discs, temporary permits, and roadworthy certificates that expired during the period from March 26, 2020 up to and including May 31, 2020 are deemed to be valid and their validity period is extended for a further grace period ending on August 31, 2020.
3. Motor trade number licences that expired during the period that commenced from March 26, 2020 up to and including May 31, 2020, are deemed to be valid and are extended for a further grace period, ending on November 30, 2020.
