Government must suspend driver's licence fines in 2025
In May, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy confirmed that around 733 000 driver's licences sat in the queue. Nearly half of the 1.3-million backlog peak in 2022/2023. Although the DTC usually advises 14 days to process a licence application, this has risen to six weeks since the printer breakdown. To avoid driver's licence fines, authorities advise holding onto your expired license card, along with proof of a new application. The new card account and printing tender has stalled under Minister Creecy. Image: File
Furthermore, the DTC said 269 000 back-logged cards had already been cleared. However, those numbers don't add up. At the current printing rate of 2 400 cards per day, it will take more than one year to clear the backlog, reports BusinessTech . As such, the Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) is calling on Minister Creecy to suspend driver's licence fines. The non-profit initiative says government should waive fines and temporary licence process for those who have cards stuck in the system through no fault of their doing.
OUTA believes it's unfair to fine motorists who are waiting for their card renewals. Likewise, in light of on-going printer breakdowns, OUTA argues the validity of all licence cards should be extended to 10 years. The civil action organisation has been highly involved in the license printing debacle. It was OUTA's independent investigation last year that uncovered significant irregularities in the tender procurement process. Driver's licence backlogs peaked in 2022/23 at more than 1.3 million. Image: Gallo/Jacques Stander
In turn, the Transport Minister passed OUTA's report onto the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). AGSA noted that while a new printing machine cost R486 million, a tender worth R898 million was irregularly awarded. Many believe this near doubling of cost was to facilitate new digital Driver's Licence Card Accounts (DLCAs).
French company, Idemia, raised plenty of eyebrows when it won the massive tender. The firm is considered a leader in biometrics and smart technology and has associations with government all around the globe. There is still no clarity from the department on whether a new tender will be awarded. Or if driver's licence fines will be suspended in the meantime.
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1.
Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Eyewitness News
an hour ago
- Eyewitness News
Transnet will receive R94.8 billion from Transport Department over next 5 years to help manage mounting debt
JOHANNESBURG - Transnet will receive R94.8 billion in financial support from the Transport Department over the next five years to help manage its mounting debt. The Department said the additional guarantees will cushion the impact of recent credit rating downgrades, to mitigate risks and ensure Transnet can meet its debt obligations. This latest support follows a R51 billion guarantee approved earlier this year by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. Department spokesperson Collen Msibi said the new allocation will help stabilise the entity's financial position. 'On the 12th of June 2025, the Minister of Transport, Ms. Barbara Creecy, announced government has initiated a process to allocate additional guarantees to Transnet. As a result, government has, on 25 July 2025, approved an additional R48.6 billion guarantee for Transnet to ensure that all debt redemptions will be covered over the next five years. '
IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
Cognac maker Remy Cointreau lifts guidance after China deal
Louis XIII cognac in a decanter. Louis XIII cognac in a decanter. Image: File. French drinks group Remy Cointreau lifted Friday its outlook for the year after a deal between the EU and China on cognac imports, but now expects a stiffer impact from US levies and the strong euro. The group, which makes Remy Martin and Louis XIII cognac as well as Cointreau orange liqueur, now targets a mid-to-high-single-digits decline in adjusted operating profit for its 2025-2026 financial year, compared with the mid-to-high-teens decline previously forecasted. A major reason behind the improvement is the agreement earlier this month by European brandy exporters to raise prices in China to avoid anti-dumping duties, ending temporary measures that were costing French cognac makers 50 million euros per month. Remy Cointreau now expects a hit of 10 million euros ($11.8 million) from Chinese measures this year, as opposed to the 40 million euros previously. But the company raised its forecast for the impact of US tariffs to 35 million euros, from 25 million previously. The European Union is scrambling to secure a trade deal with the United States before August 1, when Washington has threatened to hike baseline tariffs from 10 to 30 percent. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The company maintained its forecast of a return to mid-single-digit sales growth stripping out currency changes for 2025-2026, but noted this was primarily due to a rebound from a low comparison base in the United States. Sales rose by 1.8 percent in the April to June quarter to 220.8 billion euros. The gain was 5.7 percent stripping out exchange rate fluctuations and other changes to the business. Quarterly sales in the United States rose from a low base, while they edged lower in Asia due to the Chinese levies and fell in Europe, the Middle East and Africa due to heightened competition and sluggish demand. The strong value of the euro -- it has climbed more than 13 percent against the dollar since the start of the year -- has been weighing upon the results of European companies when they convert foreign sales back into euros. Remy Cointreau said it now expects a negative currency effect impact on sales of between 50 and 60 million euros for its 2025-2026 financial year, up from its earlier estimate of 30 to 35 million euros. It also raised the currency effect impact on adjusted operating profit to between 15 and 20 million euros, compared to 10 to 15 million euros previously. Remy Cointreau's shares jumped around four percent as trading got underway in Paris, while the blue-chip CAC 40 index fell 0.7 percent. AFP
The Citizen
2 days ago
- The Citizen
French car dealer charged over Takata airbag injury
After years of investigations into deadly Takata airbags, France has filed its first criminal charge against a dealership accused of negligence. A car dealer has been charged over failures that led to a driver being injured when a faulty Takata airbag sprayed him with metal fragments, a source said Friday, the first criminal charges in France in a massive recall scandal. A number of car models have been under a series of recall orders since 2014 in France over airbags produced by the Japanese company that are at risk of injuring or killing drivers when they deploy. Deaths and investigations At least 18 people in France are suspected to have been killed by faulty Takata airbags and in June the latest recall ordered 1.7 million vehicles off the road until replaced. A number of investigations were under way in France into suspicions of fraud and endangerment, but no charges had been publicly disclosed. However, a source told AFP an investigating magistrate in the French island of La Reunion in March charged a car dealership for failing to have warned a driver whose vehicle had been recalled and who was then subsequently injured. ALSO READ: Jaguar recalls E-Pace models over tearing airbags Dealership denies responsibility The dealership has denied responsibility, saying according to the source it did not have the contact information for clients of a separate dealership it had acquired. In France the filing of criminal charges does not mean the case will proceed to court. The car dealership's lawyer said he intends to show his client undertook reasonable efforts given that in 2020 the severity of the danger posed by the airbags wasn't known, and faulted the French state for not providing the contact information for the car owners. The Takata brand disappeared in 2018 following a bankruptcy in the wake of the airbag scandal, which has affected almost every major global automaker and led to millions of cars being recalled. NOW READ: These VW Polo Sedans and Tarmak basketball hoops are being recalled
