Transport minister misleading motorists about free temporary licences

AfriForum claims that Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has repeatedly misled the public and parliament about waiving temporary licence fees.

Creecy has told parliament that the Department of Transport (DoT) had decided to waive the fee for a temporary licence card over the past few months.

It made this decision in response to the ongoing driver’s licence card backlog, supposedly giving motorists with expired licences a reprieve while they wait for their new cards to be made.

The issue started when the country’s only licence card printer broke down from February until May, leading to a backlog that peaked at over 700,000 outstanding renewal applications.

While the Driver’s Licence Card Account (DLCA) has been working overtime to reduce the backlog, which is now sitting at roughly 200,000 orders, the waiting time for a new card has increased from around two weeks to two months.

While individuals who apply for a new card before the expiry of their old one get a three-month grace period from the time of expiry, many have complained that the waiting time for a new one has gone up.

As a result, motorists are being forced to pay R72 for a temporary licence to avoid getting fined at traffic stops, even though the fault lies with the DoT and its unreliable, outdated printer.

Responding to Parliamentary questions and media queries in July, Creecy said that a decision was taken during a ministerial meeting on 27 June to scrap the R72 fee.

She confirmed this plan again in September, explaining to parliament that the decision had been communicated to various department leads.

This decision was confirmed yet again in early October, when transport minister spokesperson Collen Msibi communicated Creecy’s stance in an interview on radio 702.

The DoT also confirmed the decision to MyBroadband.

“The Minister and MEC took a decision on 27 June 2025 to waive the R72 fee for a temporary driving licence,” Msibi said.

However, on 15 October 2025, AfriForum said it received confirmation from the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) that the R72 fee is still in place.

The civil action group added that is was considering taking the department to court to force it to waive the fee until the card backlog is resolved.

Department says its all in the fine print

Neither the minister’s engagements with Parliament nor Msibi’s feedback to the media mentioned specific conditions.

Msibi subsequently told News24 that the fee exemption was only applicable to people who meet three criteria.

First, their licences must have expired between 5 February and 8 May 2025 – when the printer was broken.

Second, they must have applied for a temporary licence within three months of their licence card expiring.

Third, the application for a temporary licence had to happen after the fee exemption took effect on 23 July 2025.

Msibi said that individuals who applied for a licence after the machine was fixed are not eligible.

AfriForum said that, under these conditions, the fee waiver was only valid for some persons between 23 July and 8 August.

“This means that the fee exemption was only in place for 17 days, while the printer was out of order for more than 90 days,” it said.

The organisation claimed the minister’s repeated statements of waiving the R72 payment for a temporary driving licence were misleading, as they did not clarify that it was subject to very limited conditions.

It also highlighted that Creecy last mentioned the fee exemption in September, more than a month after the department had supposedly shut it down.

“Considering the risk that the machine may break down again, would it not make more sense for the department to waive the fee until the remaining 200,000 card backlog has been cleared,” it said.