AfriForum brings an appeal to prevent driver’s license cards from expiring every five years

The civil rights organisation AfriForum applied for leave to appeal in the High Court in Pretoria against the ruling that the validity period of driver’s license cards should not be revised. AfriForum aims to prevent road users who did not receive renewed driver’s license cards on time from being fined.

Acting judge JJ Strijdom dismissed AfriForum’s initial review application on 30 October. The ruling stated that a review application had to be brought within 180 days after the initial regulation regarding the validity period of driver’s license cards was issued. However, AfriForum’s legal team argues in their appeal application that there are sufficient merits to bring a review application at present, because the relevant regulation is not in line with the National Road Traffic Act and the Constitution.

According to Louis Boshoff, Campaign Officer at AfriForum, the Department of Transport wants to enforce regulations which in many cases are not possible to comply with. AfriForum has received several complaints from individuals who did not receive their renewed driver’s license cards from the Department of Transport on time. This resulted in them being fined despite every effort to remain legally licensed. The Department’s license card printer has often broken down in the past few years and it is clear that licenses continue to expire faster than new ones are printed.

“South African road users know what it feels like to be fined because of a broken printer,” explains Boshoff. “If the Department of Transport cannot even print driver’s license cards, they should not print fines for expired licenses either – the injustice is obvious.”