The National Department of Transport plans to change the National Road Traffic Regulations so that driving licences and other traffic documents can no longer be used as identification, according to SAnews.
The change covers Traffic Register Number (TRN) certificates, learner’s licences and driving licences. The department said these documents should not serve as general forms of ID.
“The TRN was created solely to enable people without a South African identity number to transact on the National Traffic Information System (NaTIS) for road traffic purposes while finalising their legal status with Home Affairs. It was never intended to serve as general identification,” the Department of Transport said.
The plan follows an investigation in 2023. The Department of Transport said it helped the Department of Home Affairs with that probe.
According to the department, the investigation found widespread misuse of TRNs and other road traffic documents as ID. It said some institutions were accepting TRNs and driving licences as general identification.
The department said this goes against the Identification Act of 1997. That law makes Home Affairs the only body that keeps the National Population Register and issues ID documents.
The department said the changes are needed to remove legal confusion and prevent abuse. It said they will also bring road traffic law in line with the Identification Act.
Under the plan, Regulation 1 will be changed to remove TRNs and all other road traffic documents from the meaning of acceptable identification. In practice, a TRN, learner’s licence or driving licence will no longer count as an ID document.
For people who are not permanent residents, acceptable identification will be a valid passport from their home country. It must come with the right permit issued by Home Affairs under the Immigration Act of 2002.
For companies, acceptable identification will include a certificate of incorporation, a registration certificate, a memorandum of incorporation or a name change certificate. These are issued under the Companies Act of 2008.
Regulation 335, which controls TRNs, will also be tightened. The parts of it that now recognise a TRN as acceptable identification will be deleted.
A TRN holder who gets another form of acceptable ID will have to tell the registering authority within 21 days. They will need to use form ANR and hand in their TRN certificate.
A new rule will say a TRN is only valid for as long as the passport and permit used to get it. Anyone holding a TRN certificate with no validity period will have to apply for a new one within three months of the rules taking effect.
The department said the proposed changes will be published for public comment under the National Road Traffic Act of 1996.
Interested parties and affected institutions will have 30 days from publication in the Government Gazette to send written comments. The department said all submissions will be considered before the final regulations are published.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.