Acts Online
GT Shield

National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996)

Chapter IV : Fitness of drivers

25. Suspension or cancellation by chief executive officer of licence authorising driving of motor vehicle

 

1) If the holder –
a) of a learner's or driving licence issued in terms of this Chapter, a repealed ordinance or any prior law, is disqualified in terms of section 15 from holding it, the chief executive officer shall cancel such licence; or
b) of a licence referred to in paragraph (a) would constitute a source of danger to the public by driving a motor vehicle on a public road, the chief executive officer may cancel or suspend such licence.

 

2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the chief executive officer may request the holder of the licence concerned to submit himself or herself within such period as the chief executive officer may determine –
a) to an examination and a test by one or more examiners for driving licences nominated by the chief executive officer, to determine his or her competency to drive a motor vehicle of the class to which his or her licence relates, and for the purpose of such examination and test the holder of the licence concerned shall provide a motor vehicle of the class concerned: Provided that the holder of the licence concerned may request that he or she be submitted to an examination and a test to determine his or her competency to drive a motor vehicle –
i) of any other class of which the driving is authorised by his or her licence; or
ii) of a specific prescribed class, and for the purpose of such examination and test he or she shall provide a motor vehicle of the class concerned;
b) to an examination, at the cost of the Administration chief executive officer, by a medical practitioner nominated by the chief executive officer, to determine his or her physical and mental fitness to drive a motor vehicle; or
c) to an examination and a test contemplated in paragraph (a) and an examination contemplated in paragraph (b).

 

3) If the holder of the licence concerned is, after the examination and test in terms of subsection (2)(a), found to be competent to drive a motor vehicle of the class provided by him or her and is not disqualified in terms of section 15, the chief executive officer may direct –
a) that every licence authorising the driving of a motor vehicle and of which he or she is the holder shall be cancelled; and
b) that a driving licence in respect of a motor vehicle of the class provided by him or her shall be issued to him or her by an examiner for driving licences of the authority authorised thereto by the chief executive officer, and for that purpose the provisions of section 18(4) shall apply with the necessary changes.

 

4) If any person, after having been examined and tested in terms of subsection (2)(a), is found not to be competent to drive a motor vehicle of the class provided by him or her, the chief executive officer shall forthwith cancel the licence concerned.

 

5) If any person fails to comply with a request in terms of subsection (2), the chief executive officer may forthwith suspend or cancel, as the case may be, the licence concerned unless such person is able to satisfy the chief executive officer within a period determined by the chief executive officer that such failure was due to a reason beyond his or her control and that such licence should not be so suspended or cancelled.

 

6) The suspension or cancellation of a licence in terms of this section shall apply to any other learner's or driving licence held by the holder of such suspended or cancelled licence and recognised in terms of this Chapter as a valid licence, as the chief executive officer may determine.

 

7)
a) When a licence is cancelled or suspended in terms of subsection (1) or is cancelled in terms of subsection (3)(a) or (4), the holder thereof shall forthwith submit the licence or, in the case where it is contained in an identity document, that document to the chief executive officer or an inspector of licences authorised by him or her.
b) If the licence is not contained in an identity document –
i) but particulars thereof are contained in the register for driving licences, the MEC or the inspector of licences, as the case may be, shall record particulars of the cancellation or suspension in that register;
ii) and particulars thereof are not contained in the register for driving licences, the chief executive officer or the inspector of licences, as the case may be, shall notify the authority which issued the licence of the cancellation or suspension, and where the licence has been suspended the chief executive officer or the inspector of licences, as the case may be, shall retain the licence until the period of suspension expires, whereafter it shall be returned to the holder thereof.
c) If the licence is contained in an identity document, the chief executive officer or inspector of licences, as the case may be, shall effect an appropriate endorsement on the licence, record the particulars of the cancellation or suspension in the register for driving licences and return the identity document to the holder thereof.

 

8) The chief executive officer may, where he or she deems it expedient and on such conditions as he or she may deem fit –
a) in the prescribed manner reinstate a licence suspended in terms of this section;
b) authorise a person whose licence has been cancelled in terms of this section to apply for a learner's and a driving licence.

 

9) A person whose learner's or driving licence has been cancelled in terms of this Act, a repealed ordinance or any prior law or by any competent court or authority, shall be deemed to be unlicensed, and any person whose learner's or driving licence has so been suspended shall, during the period of the suspension, be deemed to be unlicensed.

 

10) Where any circumstance arises in relation to the holder of a licence authorising the driving of a motor vehicle and which is issued in a prescribed territory or a foreign state, which would have disqualified such person as contemplated in section 15 from obtaining a driving licence, or if such holder would constitute a source of danger to the public by driving a motor vehicle on a public road, the MEC concerned may inform such person that such licence is of no force within the Republic, and as from the date on which such person is so informed the licence shall cease to be in force within the Republic.