South Africans pay R3,000 for fake licences as corruption spirals

The price of illegal or fake learner’s licences in South Africa has surged, with recent arrests highlighting the growing black market for fraudulent documents. The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) recently apprehended a licensing examiner in Limpopo for allegedly helping four individuals, including three foreign nationals, obtain learner’s licences without undergoing the required tests.

According to the RTMC, the examiner was caught in the act, assisting the applicants during their exams. The suspects, who are now in custody at the Lebowakgomo Police Station, reportedly paid R3,000 each for the illicit licences. This marks a significant increase from last year when a similar incident in the Eastern Cape involved bribes of R2,500 per licence.

A deeper look into the issue reveals a thriving underground market for illegal licences across the country. In 2022, the Department of Transport identified over 190,000 fraudulent licences in its system, attempting to cancel them as part of an anti-corruption drive at Driver’s Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs). However, these efforts have had limited success.

The City of Cape Town reported over 400 cases of individuals attempting to renew driver’s licences or obtain public driving permits through illegal means in the past year alone. Additionally, a review of 297 suspicious licences led to the discovery and revocation of 16 fake documents.

This widespread corruption is not just a financial burden, costing the national treasury billions of rands annually, but it also contributes to South Africa’s high road fatality rate. Rob Handfield-Jones, a road safety expert and managing director of Driving.co.za, estimates that corruption in the driving licence industry has contributed to over 300,000 excess road deaths in the past 25 years.

In response to the growing issue of fraudulent licences, South Africa is set to introduce new driver’s licence cards featuring advanced “smart card” technologies. These new cards will include intricate watermarks and biometric data, making them more difficult to counterfeit. They will also comply with the International Information Technology Personal Identification Compliant Driving Licence (ISO18013) standard, ensuring their validity outside South Africa.

Despite these measures, the rising cost of illegal licences underscores the persistent challenge of corruption within the system, suggesting that the fight against fraudulent licences is far from over.

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