In August last year, transport minister Fikile Mbalula announced that driving licences which expired between March 26 2020 and August 31 2021 will be valid until March 31 2022.
In February, Mbalula said there is a total backlog of 2.1m licences nationally that will have expired by March 31. The government has since extended the deadline to April 15. It is laughable to even consider that this incompetent government will clear the backlog by mid-April.
The driving licence fiasco reads like a bad soap opera; problems with the production of driving licence cards, issues around driving licence testing centres, online booking systems and of course corruption. All this has direct implications that potentially insurance claims by motorists will not paid out.
What has not explicitly been said is that this is a tangible example of a failed state. Many people consider a failed state as one that is in the midst of a war. This is not the case. Wherever a government is not fulfilling a function that it should be doing, then it is failing.
A general perusal of all ANC-run governments and entities clearly makes this point.
This is the case when we consider the government’s supply of electricity, water, basic services and indeed the issuing of driving licences.
Manny de Freitas, MP and DA shadow minister of tourism
Driving licence saga like a bad soapie
Image: Denis Droppa
In August last year, transport minister Fikile Mbalula announced that driving licences which expired between March 26 2020 and August 31 2021 will be valid until March 31 2022.
In February, Mbalula said there is a total backlog of 2.1m licences nationally that will have expired by March 31. The government has since extended the deadline to April 15. It is laughable to even consider that this incompetent government will clear the backlog by mid-April.
The driving licence fiasco reads like a bad soap opera; problems with the production of driving licence cards, issues around driving licence testing centres, online booking systems and of course corruption. All this has direct implications that potentially insurance claims by motorists will not paid out.
What has not explicitly been said is that this is a tangible example of a failed state. Many people consider a failed state as one that is in the midst of a war. This is not the case. Wherever a government is not fulfilling a function that it should be doing, then it is failing.
A general perusal of all ANC-run governments and entities clearly makes this point.
This is the case when we consider the government’s supply of electricity, water, basic services and indeed the issuing of driving licences.
Manny de Freitas, MP and DA shadow minister of tourism
Driver's licence card deadline extended to April 15
Motorists with expired licence cards may be given an 11th-hour reprieve
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