Uber South Africa registration application confirmed — three months after deadline
The Department of Transport has confirmed it received an application for an e-hailing registration certificate from Uber South Africa, three months after the registration deadline lapsed.
Despite being the largest e-hailing platform in South Africa, Uber has lagged behind rivals like Bolt, InDrive, and Wanatu in terms of compliance with the new National Land Transport Act.
From the gazetting of the NLTA on 12 September 2025, e-hailing operators were given a 180-day grace period to comply with its requirements and obtain a registration certificate after a 7-step process.
That designated 11 March 2026 as the deadline for registration. In a gazette notice on 19 June 2026, the department notified the public that Uber South Africa had applied for registration.
“The National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) hereby gives notice that it has received an application for registration as an e-hailing provider platform from Uber South Africa Services,” it said.
The department invited members of the public to submit written comments or representations on the application within 14 days of the notice’s publication.
This is only the third of seven steps for an e-hailing entity to obtain full registration in South Africa, following the receipt of the application and verification.
Following the notification, the NPTR will begin an adjudication process that will include an in-person demonstration of the e-hailing app or platform before a board appointed by the regulator.
If the demonstration is approved, the NPTR will fully register the provider and issue them a certificate. The final step will involve informing provincial regulatory entities of the registration.
Only three e-hailing companies completed the process ahead of the March deadline: Wanatu, Bolt, and Maxim. InDrive secured its registration in late May.
Uber previously confirmed that it submitted the application “well before” the deadline. It is unclear why it took such a long time for its registration application to be gazetted.
The same gazette also notified the public that a company called Hezy Holdings had applied for e-hailing registration in South Africa.
Uber is technically operating unlawfully in South Africa
About a month before the deadline, the department said it had received applications from 10 companies. That increased to 12 over the next few weeks.
Uber is among eight other major e-hailing operators that have not completed registration. The company has continued to operate despite not being fully registered.
The regulations do not regard an application before the deadline as sufficient to operate lawfully in the country, as operators must be in possession of a registration certificate.
Uber confirmed it had submitted its application by 17 February 2026. Since then, 122 calendar days and 88 weekdays have passed.
The NPTR is supposed to take just 60 days to process an application. It had completed the entire registration process of Wanatu and Bolt in less than 90 days.
MyBroadband has repeatedly asked Uber for more information on why its registration process has been delayed, but has not received feedback on our queries.
It is still unclear whether the NPTR or Uber is to blame for the delay. One possibility is that its original application was returned for being incomplete or defective.
“If there are problems with the application that cannot be resolved by assisting the applicant, the official must reject the application and advise the applicant on what is missing or wrong,” the department said.
Other delays could be encountered during the verification step of the process, where the regulator would have to verify the authenticity of the operator’s ICASA certificates.
It would also have to verify that the details on the operator’s tax compliance status PIN are the same as those on the application form. E-filing compliance would also have to be checked.
After the processing of public comments, Uber will begin adjudication with the NPTR, where a representative must demonstrate the Uber platform to officials in person.
This demonstration would allow the regulator to verify whether Uber’s platform met the minimum requirements under the National Land Transport Regulations.
The regulations require certain core technical features, including driver and vehicle verification, geographic tracking, fare estimates, ICASA compliance, and safety features like panic buttons.
Uber would also have to demonstrate that it is tax-compliant and that its platform actively blocks drivers who do not possess a valid e-hailing operating licence.
Loading ...