Embarrassing start for online driver’s licence renewal system

The Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC’s) National Traffic Information System (Natis) website has gone offline, a day after it launched online payments for driver’s licence card and car licence disc renewals.

South Africans have not been able to access the site (online.natis.gov.za) since Friday morning.

When TechCentral first tried to access the site, it got a message that said the website is not safe because the “site’s SSL certificate has expired or is untrusted”. Since then, it has displayed a “403 forbidden” error, with an explanation: “You don’t have permission to access this resource.”

The website was still down at the time of writing.

On Thursday, transport minister Fikile Mbalula promised that the system would mean that the era of long queues at driving centres would soon be a be a thing of the past thanks to the RTMC’s new online payment gateway.

“These services we are rolling out today will undoubtedly improve efficiencies and minimise the time the end user spends in a queue. Motorists will be able to access most of the services they had to travel and queue at a driving licence testing centre for in the past, from the comfort of their homes and offices,” the minister said.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media

Now read: Driving licences and discs can now be renewed online