R2,400 per month extra to own South Africa’s favourite bakkie, and a small town where roads are so bad motorists drive on sidewalks

South Africa has gazetted the proposed extension of driver’s licence cards, which will see their validity extended from 5 to 10 years and bring South Africa in line with international customs.

Motorists and civil action groups have been calling for the extension for years, given the growing frustrations with frequent renewals and card printers that keep breaking.

One of the main reasons for the advocacy is that South Africa’s licence card validity period is below the global average.

Many countries allow motorists to keep their cards for 8 to 10 years, and some only start requiring renewals once individuals reach a certain age.

As a result, motorists and civil groups like the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomed the move to a 10-year validity period.

In the meantime, oil prices rose once again as the US attacked Iranian tankers and Tehran threatened to restrict movement through the Strait of Hormuz.

The US struck three Iranian oil tankers over the weekend, destroying one, which it said was a retaliation for ballistic missile attacks on US Navy warships.

In response, Iran said it will declare a new restricted zone outside of the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.

The result is Brent crude oil trading at $97 per barrel, a 60% increase since the start of the year, leading to higher global petrol and diesel prices.

Despite ongoing and escalating conflicts in the rest of the world, the South African rand remained stable over the weekend and is this morning trading at under R16 against the greenback.

A single US dollar costs only R15.95, a slight improvement over the end of last week, thanks to a weaker dollar and slightly higher gold prices.

5 important things

The R2,400 per month extra cost of owning the new Toyota Hilux in South Africa: As the most popular bakkie on South Africa’s roads, the Toyota Hilux is also the most desired by criminals, forcing owners to pay thousands of rands each month to keep them insured. It is not only their high theft risk that makes insuring these bakkies so expensive, but also the overall ownership and replacement costs [TopAuto].

Roads are so bad in a small South African town that motorists drive on sidewalks: The roads in Volksrust, a historical agricultural and commercial town in Mpumalanga, are so bad that motorists are forced to drive on the sidewalks [Newsday].

App helps prevent people with electric cars from running out of battery in South Africa: South African electric vehicle (EV) owners can benefit immensely from using A Better Route Planner (ABRP) on their smartphones, Android Auto, or Apple CarPlay [MyBroadband].

Transnet completes restoration of key commodity rail line: South Africa’s state-owned logistics operator Transnet said on Friday ​it has completed the restoration ‌of the Cape Mainline rail link following storm damage in May [Reuters].

Volkswagen Group’s India unit steps up job cuts in cost overhaul: Volkswagen Group’s India unit is accelerating a three-year restructuring plan that will eliminate about 12% of its workforce, people familiar with the matter said, as the German automaker looks to lower costs before its next investment cycle in the country [Bloomberg].