I wish that South African drivers' license requirements for foreigners would actually be broadcast to all the traffic cops out there. Or that the traffic cops would quit making up their own stories about the rules.
Noisette was driving to the airport recently to pick up two visiting teenagers who were travelling by themselves. Needless to say, it was somewhat important to be there on time. However, just as he was driving around the bend and into airport parking at O.R. Tambo, there was a police road block. He showed his American license (as I was told by the licensing department head himself would be sufficient - in fact, you can't get a South African license as a foreigner), but the police wanted to see an international permit. Which is only necessary if your license is not in the English language. We used to have them anyway, but they expire after just one year. When the international permit wasn't forthcoming, they just went ahead and invented new requirements. In this case, they said, since they were on airport property, a passport was needed as well as a drivers' license. A passport? Huh? That is such a blatant lie, and Noisette would have been mildly amused, had he not been in a hurry to get to arrivals. But he continued to be harassed by the police for almost half an hour, threatened to be arrested and put in jail, and did he really want that? All the while exchanging frantic phone calls with me who was shooting off SMSs to Germany to see if the parents could reach their kids to let them know where to wait. He was finally let go because, of course, there was no arrest warrant whatsoever and no grounds to issue one.
To all you prospective expats out there: A valid English-language drivers' license is all that is needed to drive on South African roads. If the cops tell you otherwise, it is because they're looking for a bribe, but if you stay firm, they will let you go. However, I only have this information verbally from the Randburg licensing department as well as some other websites, and have not been able to find anything official in writing. But doing just that has now become another item on my never-shrinking list to-do list. I'll keep you posted.
9 comments:
Oh, I have stories! In Ghana my husband used humor and jokes to get out of these bribe sessions, and there it worked for him. I had several incidents as well, that I "won" but boy, it takes figuring out how to deal with these guys.
TP would have just told them to arrest him. It's very hard to convince him to give a bribe. Hahahaa! Anyways, he always has a certified copy of our passports in the car.
Thats exactly what he did, and they finally had to capitulate since they had no grounds. In fact, I'm the one who keeps secretly hoping for the arrest and the story that would make for my blog:-) (can't wait to read some of yours Mrs Footloose!) But your hubby is definitely more organized than we are. Aren't those copies only valid for three months though?
I had a run in with the Metro cops a couple of years ago. I had a valid SADC drivers licence and an International Permit, but as the car is in my husbands name they also wanted a copy of our Marriage Certificate, and a letter giving me permission to drive the vehicle. They also wanted a copy of my passport and permit (my husband has the work permit I only have a permit to accompany him) The copies are only valid for 3 months so it is best to go down to Douglasdale Police Station and get them done (even put a reminder in your phone diary!).
Needless to say I was given a fine for not having a valid vehicle licence (despite the fact the vehicle was not yet a South African registered vehicle! And after I had left he wrote out another fine for driving without a valid drivers licence ( I had 4 teenagers in the car who saw me produce the licence). The fine was never given to me and a couple of months later a Warrant of Arrest was sent to my home address. I went to Marlboro Testing Station and paid an admission of guilt fine to avoid being arrested. I could have gone to court to dispute the charges but I did not want to go through the ordeal! Very frustrating.
I have now learnt to always drive in the middle lane - they usually stop you in the outside lane! An I follow Pigspotter on twitter so I know where the police are!
Jozie Days, you are kidding! But what is a SADC lilcense? Good tip on the middle lane and Pigspotter - I just signed up as well! Thanks so much for sharing. So if you know where they are, do you just take a different route? Not always easy when you're stuck on William Nicol.
Hi all
What opportunists they are!! In order to avoid future such encounters, I suggest you carry a copy of the following around with you...
www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/regulations/1999/roadregs05.html.
This is a chapter from the South African National Road Traffic Act, No. 93 of 1996 (You might want to copy and paste it into Word and put that as a heading above the chapter number).
Regulation 110 of this chapter refers to the validity of foreign drivers' licenses, so you might want to print just that section out.
Here's hoping none of you ever has to deal with an SA holding cell for something so ridiculous!
Hi Sine, SADC is the acronym for Southern African Development Community. Currently SADC has a membership of 15 Member States, namely; Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
I have been known to take an alternate route home from picking up kids if I see them set up on the other side of the road!
Did you also know that once you are a permanent resident (another looooong process) you must get a South African drivers licence within one year!
PS The police seem to have almost permanently set up outside OR Tambo - just as you leave the airport. So be ready when you go to pick up visitors or get back from your trip! Otherwise you could take the beautiful Gautrain into Sandton.
Brenda - you are a lifesaver! I already printed the whole thing for my husband and myself and will also write another post for everyone else to share. That website was exactly what I was searching for but of course I couldn't find it, being somewhat obscure. Thank you thank you!!!
Jozie Days - I did know about the one year once you become a permanent resident, and I actually thought I'd get a head start and trekked to the licensing office in Randburg to just get my South African license now - but it turns out you actually can't UNLESS you are a permanent resident. So, no idea if I'll ever qualify for that, not sure how long this visa lasts and to be honest don't really want to know, I am not eager to deal with the Department of Home Affairs anytime soon...
Thanks for the OR Tambo tip, will have to be careful. I'll equip my husband with Brenda's policy copy and hope for the best. Gautrain takes too long from here but might try it someday just so I can blog about it. Oh, and another question: How do you get SMS alerts from Pigspotter sent to your phone here? Tried to set it up in my account but South Africa not an option! I just wrote a post about that as well but would love to stand corrected.
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