It seems there are circumstances under which you can drive without a licence - but you have to prove you are part of this undoubtedly frustrated group South Africans.
This is reportedly according to a senior Gauteng magistrate after it emerged that thousands of people cannot get their licences because of repeated delays by the Department of Transport.
"The failure of a state to provide its citizens with driving licences cannot be visited on these citizens," said Gauteng chief magistrate Daniel Thulare.
Thousands of citizens have been struggling to get bookings to undergo tests for licences.
Scores of law-abiding citizens are becoming increasingly frustrated due to problems bedeviling booking centres and licensing stations, especially in Gauteng, the Sowetan reports.
Thulare, who is also an evangelist, said on Friday: "The law does not expect impossibility."
"Any conviction of a citizen for driving without a licence will therefore be unlawful if the state itself has failed to test that person."
He stressed that such people would only walk free provided they were able to prove that they had taken steps to obtaining their documents.
Gauteng roads department spokesperson Philemon Motshwaedi was not available for comment.
Thulare said he was aware of people whose learner's licences expired and they had to write second tests because of delays in the system.
"If it is impossible for a state to provide its citizens with licences, the same state can't be punishing people."
.
