13 November 2022
The Road Accident Fund (RAF), together with the Road Safety Directorate of the Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT), held a Health Awareness Campaign from 8 – 11 November 2022 at various spots, including Engen garages on the N1, the Park Home and Majakathata taxi ranks and also through Roadblocks on the N1. They provided health checks to long distance drivers to ensure that drivers are fit to be on the roads to reduce road accidents.
With the Festive Season approaching and traffic volumes increasing across the country , the RAF conducted free health checks, including eye tests and testing for diabetes and high blood pressure. Drivers who have eye problems received free spectacles and those who were diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, were referred to doctors and clinics.
11 September 2022:
ROAD CLOSURES AND ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO JAGERSFONTEIN: XHARIEP DISTRICT
The Department of Police, Roads and Transport would like to notify the general public about road closures and alternative routes to be used in the Jagersfontein area following the dam burst and subsequent mudslide on 11 September 2022.
The public is advised that the R706 between Bloemfontein and Jagersfontein is currently not accessible for light motor vehicles, only 4×4 vehicles are able to negotiate roads in the area. The public is advised to use the following alternative routes and are also warned to exercise extreme care while doing so as these roads are prone to potholes:
- N8 Bloemfontein to Petrusburg
- R48 Petrusburg to Koffiefontein
- R704 Koffiefontein to Fauresmith to Jagersfontein
Currently road work teams are inspecting possible access to the town from the northeastern side and how to address the urgent maintenance needed on the R48 to ensure the safe passage of vehicles and commuters.
The MEC for Police, Roads and Transport, Mr. William Bulwane, appeals to the public to make use of the alternative routes regardless of the extra distance that motorists will need to travel.
29 August 2022:
The N1 in the vicinity of Winburg in the Free State Province has been re-opened after it has been closed on Sunday 28 August 2022 due to veldfires that obscured visibility and caused dangerous driving conditions. Motorists now can drive directly between Bloemfontein and Winburg and do not need to take the alternative routes.
5 August 2022:
Operation Vala Zonke!
The MEC for the Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT) Mr. William Bulwane, will officially launch a programme to patch potholes in the province on Monday 8 August 2022, at 09:00, at the intersection between the R501 and R59 between Viljoenskroon and Potchefstroom.
The programme will cover various roads across the Free State Province and aims at eradicating potholes on these roads to ensure motorists can travel safely and without fear of damaging their vehicles. MEC Bulwane wants to make sure that potholes are fixed in the FS Province within the next six months. The team will start work as from 10 August 2022 and will move from district to district to ensure that roads in all corners of the FS are patched over.
Any pothole deeper than 100 mm will first be filled with modified gravel up to 30 mm. Depending on the material that is on the ground, the top three centimeters will then be filled with hot asphalt or cold mix to close all gaps so water cannot penetrate into the area.
Currently the department has a total paved network in excess of 6 696 km, including an identified strategic network of 3 837 km. Furthermore, the department maintains a gravel network of unpaved roads in excess of 22 054 km on secondary roads.
The Department will work together with municipalities and other relevant stakeholders to ensure all affected roads are identified and repaired.
22 July 2022
SOME SERVICES NOT AVAILABLE AT HARRISMITH DLTC AFTER THEFT
Office in Reitz also affected.
The Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT) would like to inform members of the public that services at the Harrismith Driving Licences and Testing Centre (DLTC) have been interrupted due to the break-in and subsequent theft of nine computer monitors.
The burglary occurred during the early hours of Monday, 18 July 2022. Because of the loss of the computer screens, no financial transactions can currently be rendered. These include the renewal of expired licence discs and the issuing of licenses.
Members of the public whose documents are expiring, are advised to renew their documents at alternative testing stations such as the Warden and Kestell offices.
The Harrismith testing station is still open for other services and enquiries. Those who cannot travel to substitute stations have an option to make use of a provisional service by the Harrismith station where officials will take the documents submitted to neighbouring stations on behalf of the applicants.
To utilise this service, applicants are advised to bring the required documents (such as a certified copy of their Identity Document, proof of residential address and the application fee) to the Harrismith offices between 07:30 to 09:00 daily as from Monday 25 July 2022. They can wait until 15:30 on the same day for their processed applications to be returned or will be able to collect it on the following day. This temporary alternative will accommodate the public’s needs and assist the DPRT as it will avoid a possible backlog when the station is running at full capacity again.
The same procedure applies to the Reitz Testing station since they also suffered a break-in on 13 July 2022. Network cables were stolen, resulting in the interruption of internet connections to the Department’s main frame.
The Harrismith and Reitz stations both reside in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality.
For more information, please contact Me Prudence Moseloane on 082 776 2085 or write an email to: isomsibi@gmail.com.
27 June 2022
The Minister of Transport, Mr Fikile Mbalula, visited Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) on 27 June 2022 as a follow-up after the Presidential Imbizo on 9 April this year to assess the progress made with transport infrastructure development in the MMM. Mr. Mbalula expressed his concerns in no uncertain terms about the state of Moshoeshoe Road – one of the main arteries between the townships and the Bloemfontein central district: “This road is a hazard and we need to make sure repairs to the road is finalised as a matter of urgency”. He also said upgrades in transport infrastructure in the whole of the Free State Province needs to be accelerated.
16 May 2022
LONGER OFFICE HOURS AT FRANKFORT DRIVING LICENCE AND TESTING CENTRE
The Frankfort Driving Licence and Testing Centre (DLTC) will reopen on Tuesday, 17 May 2022, and all services will be available. This follows after the DLTC has not been fully functional after a break-in and theft of computers and cables.
To address the backlog created by this incident and the technical glitches experienced, the Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT) took the decision to extend operating hours at Frankfort DLTC on weekdays and weekends until 19 June 2022.
The testing centre will be open on Mondays to Fridays from 07:30 to 18:00 daily, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 08:00 until 14:00. These extended official hours only apply to the Frankfort Testing Centre.
The department urges motorists to make full use of the additional hours as the unscheduled closure of the testing station caused major disruptions in service delivery.
28 April 2022
On 28 April 2022, the MEC for the Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT), Mr. William Bulwane, held a meeting with Taxi Operators in the Setsoto Local Municipality in Ficksburg. The purpose of the meeting was to intervene in the ongoing conflict amongst taxi operators in the area.
It is alleged that some of the taxi operators who run routes from Ficksburg to Welkom are denying others to carry passengers. The problem apparently started during Covid-19 when strict regulations were implemented that severely affected the financial viability of the public transport sector.
The matter was taken to the office of the registrar in Bloemfontein. The office tried to resolve the problem but unfortunately it still persists.
The MEC took a decision that taxi operators must go back to the old system of drafting a schedule. A list of names of operators who are using the Welkom route should be compiled and these operators should agree amongst themselves how they will be rotating the shifts and in what order. The implementation must start tomorrow, 29 April 2022.
The DPRT will monitor whether the association has implemented what has been agreed upon in the meeting. MEC Bulwane instructed taxi operators to respect passengers because they are the ones who are helping them to put bread on their tables. In conclusion, Mr. Bulwane said everyone must cooperate. If this is not sorted and adhered to, he will be forced to intervene further and even close the taxi rank or impound taxis.
After the meeting, the MEC visited the taxi rank next to the border gate with Lesotho and also the so-called “illegal” taxi rank next to the Sasol garage.
14 April 2022
MEC William Bulwane and Mantsopa Local Municipality Executive Mayor, Cllr. Mamsie Tsoene, joined law enforcement officers at a roadblock at the Maseru Junction in Thabo Mofutsanyana District as part of the Provincial Easter Road Safety Campaign. He also attended some road safety checkpoints on the N8 to the R26 leading to the borders of Lesotho.
10 April 2022
Read the media release below to find out which licensing offices in your area will be open for longer hours:
MediaRelease2022April07LicensingOfficesHoursExtended
31 March 2022
Minister postpones deadline of grace period for licence renewal:
The Minister of Transport, Mr. Fikile Mbalula, has announced on 31 March 2022 that the grace period for driving licences that have been impacted by the Covid pandemic, has been extended to Friday 15 April 2022. The last day available to apply for these licences at the offices of the Department of Police, Roads and Transport (DPRT) in the Free State Province, will be Thursday 14 April as the 15th falls on Easter Friday.
In a government gazette published on Thursday 31 March, Mbalula said all learner licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expire during the period between 26 March 2020 and 31 March 2022 are still considered valid and their validity has been extended for the further grace period.
Yesterday, 31 March 2022 was the last day of the grace period for renewal of driving licences that expired at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are driving licences that expired between 26 March 2020 and 21 August 2021.
Up to 28 March 2022, 628,150 driving licence cards were produced, reducing the backlog of cards to be printed to 522,839. This is in respect of those who have already applied to renew their licences.
The number of driving licence cards, falling in the category to whom the grace period applies, for which renewal applications have yet to be made, stands at 1,424,756 million. This is nearly half of the outstanding 2,813,016 licences. This means that only 49% of the affected motorists have applied for renewal of their expired driving licences. The primary reason for this is that motorists are not coming forward to renew their licences for a variety of reasons.
In the Free State, out of 134,917 expired licences, only 48% (65,551) driving licences have been renewed so far.
With a renewal application rate of 54.1% (218,286 out of 403,507), the Western Cape fared the best of all provinces in the country and Limpopo is worst off with a renewal rate of only 43.8%.
We urge all those who have yet to renew their driving licences not to delay any further and take advantage of the additional capacity we have provided and the online services. Those who apply for renewal of their driving licence cards before the expiry date are permitted to use the expired card for a period of three months, provided that they have in their possession the expired card and the receipt in the vehicle at all times.
When applying for your driving licence, drivers will need to present the following information and documents:
- Original Identity Document (ID) as well as a copy thereof or your old driving licence card or valid South African passport;
- Four black-and-white ID photographs;
- Proof of residence;
- Licence renewal fee.
