South Africa’s big licence disc problem

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is cracking down on motorists, including large trucking companies, using fraudulent vehicle licence discs.

Speaking to SABC News, RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi said the entity had more than R2.1 billion in fiscal losses relating to fraudulent licence discs.

“It is rampant in Mpumalanga. It amounts to R1.1 billion. That’s the Mpumalanga amount,” said Msibi.

“The Gauteng amount is R683 or R713 million. Cumulatively, all the amounts for these provinces give up R2.1 billion that the government has lost in relation to the licencing of motor vehicles.”

He added that vehicles carrying forged licence discs are fraudulently on the road and are unroadworthy.

“These are the major causes for our road carnages and fatalities, which also impact the Road Accident Fund,” said Msibi.

The RTMC and South African Police Service raided a trucking company operating out of Kriel, Mpumalanga.

“This is an operation that has taken us about 13 months. These fraudulent activities haven’t only happened within the Free State province,”

“They’ve happened within the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, as well as KwaZulu-Natal.”

Regarding the Mpumalanga operation, Msibi said the trucks would be impounded and declared unroadworthy.

“This company today, the amount we are dealing with is R683,000, in terms of the fraudulent licences,” said Msibi.

“All these cars have expired this year. However, their discs say they will expire in 2025.”

“They will have to go through road-worthy testing, and at the same time, they will need to be re-licensed to this amount,” he added.

He said the operation in Mpumalanga, which took place on Thursday, 25 July 2024, will see the RTMC issue the owner with a letter of demand.

The owner has seven days to pay R683,000; if they fail, the RTMC will take the matter to court.

“We know who are the players involved in the registration of these vehicles, we know who the runner is, and we now know who the owner is, so it’s going to be easy for us to deal with these matters going forward,” said Msibi.

Online services make renewals a breeze

South African motorists have several online licence disc renewal services available, the most popular of which is the National Administration Traffic System’s (Natis’) online platform.

These services don’t require customers to stand in queues to submit their renewal applications. Motorists can also opt to have their renewed discs delivered to their homes or offices.

The service launched in February 2022, and Natis recently told MyBroadband that it had completed more than two million licence disc renewal transactions.

This makes it the country’s most popular online licence disc renewal service, and it is also one of the cheapest in South Africa.

It doesn’t charge an admin fee, only the renewal cost and a R99 delivery fee if the motorist opts to have their renewed disc delivered.

FNB said its service, which is only available to its customers, has processed roughly 465,000 licence disc renewal transactions since November 2016.

“FNB customers have had the ability to renew their car licence online and address other car maintenance needs through nav» Car on the mobile app since November 2016,” said Sizwekazi Mdingi, FNB’s head of external communications and public relations.

“Customer uptake of licence disc renewal transactions with FNB has been encouraging.”

Mdingi said the company has seen impressive growth, with its online licence disc renewal transactions accelerating at around 71% year-on-year.

FNB’s online licence disc renewal is currently the cheapest in South Africa, with a promotional price of R69 per renewal until December 2024.

The service launched with a price of R199 per renewal. It was cut to R99 per renewal in 2023.

FNB then announced a promotional price cut to R69 per vehicle renewal in March 2024. While the offer was initially set to expire in June 2024, FNB told MyBroadband that it had extended it until December 2024.

The R69 fee covers the service and delivery, and FNB notes that fee is per vehicle and not per basket, unlike the Natis Online service.