Planet Briefing

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South Africa

Government to amend regulations to prevent traffic documents being used as identification

South Africa’s government plans to amend regulations so traffic documents cannot be used as general identification. The source says the proposal follows an investigation into misuse of traffic register numbers and other road traffic documents.

This document is my own former paper driver’s licence, which I held from 1985 till 2020 and that was ever since replaced by a plastic photocard. The one in the image is a 1990 duplicate of the original one I got in 1985 but that was lost five years later. In spite of photocard format being introduced in Italy in the 2000s, nonetheless it was not until 2010s that was decided that all the licences upon renewal, and not only the newly released ones, had to be in credit card format. Within the end o
Illustrative image: This document is my own former paper driver’s licence, which I held from 1985 till 2020 and that was ever since replaced by a plastic photocard. The one in the image is a 1990 duplicate of the original one I got in 1985 but that was lost five years later. In spite of photocard format being introduced in Italy in the 2000s, nonetheless it was not until 2010s that was decided that all the licences upon renewal, and not only the newly released ones, had to be in credit card format. Within the end o — Blackcat/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Why it matters

The proposal concerns the use of traffic documents as identification under South Africa’s national regulations.

Location

Categories: politics-and-governance

Generated scores

Scores are based on the cited reporting and use a 1–10 scale. Read the methodology.

Confidence
6/10
Geographic reach
5/10
Global importance
3/10
Impact magnitude
3/10
Positivity
5/10
Urgency
1/10

Sources

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