The Department of Transport has fully launched a new online vehicle registration system in South Africa, following a successful pilot of the system with car dealership, WeBuyCars.
Accordng to the transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, who announced the launch of the private-public partnership at the WeBuyCars Dome in Johannesburg.
The system launched with the dealership on a trial basis, where a digital platform was used to handle the registration and transfer of vehicle ownership details using integrated systems.
This allowed vehicle owners to deal with the admin of purchasing a new or used vehicle without physically showing up to a traffic department or office to do the registration manually.
According to the department, this was not only beneficial to owners and dealers like WeBuyCars by giving 24/7 digital access to these systems but also assisted the national database (Natis) in keeping up-to-date information on vehicle ownership.
The department said that the new vehicle registration platform is an expansion of the online licensing system that launched in 2022, where a cumulative total of 708,330 vehicle licenses have been renewed to date.
“There was an expectation that enhancements would be made to the system in order to facilitate specialised transactions with the objective of minimising the necessity for individuals to visit traffic stations personally,” the minister said.
“The purpose of implementing the vehicle clearance interface was to streamline the process of capturing police clearances online for the South African Police Service.”
WeBuyCars was an early adopter of the system, which allowed the department to assess and identify any operational issues.
Following a successful pilot of the partnership, the department said it is now ready to take the system into full implementation.
Motor vehicle dealers and financial service providers are now invited to join and integrate their systems.
The platform allows for secure interconnection between systems; Natis maintains an accurate record of ownership; and data can be processed after hours and on weekends.
“The new solution will usher in a secure, paperless, business-to-business environment to allow the motor vehicle trading and financing sector to transact seamlessly on the Natis system,” the department said.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation said that this partnership is a first of its kind and it intends it to be the first of many as it continues to seek solutions to make transacting on the Natis system seamless for both members of the public and business stakeholders.
