Tour operators stranded amidst ongoing struggle to obtain vehicle licences

Posted by Anita Froneman on 29 November 2021

After months of no business due to COVID-19, South African tour operators are struggling to recuperate. On top of the newly reinstated travel bans placed on South Africa by several countries including the UK, another monster rears its ugly head. To carry passengers in a vehicle for tourism purposes, operators need to have a valid operating licence for their vehicle, issued by the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR).

For years, however, the NPTR has allegedly not processed the applications sent in by tour operators desperate to get back on the road legally.

Operators are unable to obtain operating licenses for their vehicles because the NPTR is not functioning, one operator told Getaway. ‘Since late 2019 there has been no functioning board at the NPTR to adjudicate applications and issue operating licences,’ the operator said. ‘Even before that, while there was a board, it took months or years to obtain an operating licence, or even a simple renewal. It is important to note that these problems started long before the pandemic, this is not Covid related. This is a systemic failure of a government regulatory agency due to bureaucratic incompetence and total mismanagement.’

In fact, a petition was started by disgruntled operators calling for the Department of Tourism to step in. ‘We are calling for the separation of the application process in which applications for Operating Licences in the public sector stay with the Department of Transport and applications for tourism-related operating licences are in the hands of the Department of Tourism,’ the petition reads.

According to the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association, the mindset of the NPTR appears to be set in public transport. The NPTR Board during an industry consultation on 26 March 2019 said that ‘an operating licence is a privilege and not a right’ – an attitude that further hampers the recovery of the tourism industry.

Another tour guide, Bianca Preusker, is one of many who have tried to renew their licences, in good time, to no avail. She shared a recent incident:

‘I had collected my first group of German tourists since March 2020 at OR Tambo airport. We were on our way to Hannah Lodge near Ohrigstad. We were stopped at a roadblock near the Middelburg Toll Plaza in Mpumalanga. The traffic officer checked nothing else except the operating permit, which had expired in Aug 2021. Application for renewal had been made in good time by the vehicle owner, but no response had yet been received from the Transport board. According to a gazetted article, the proof of timeous application should suffice.

‘The traffic officer was not interested, however, and kept my driver delayed for 45 minutes while I tried to entertain and explain to our guests what the problem was. Then the traffic officer threatened to impound the vehicle, effectively stranding us by the side of the road. Eventually, she stated that a fine of R2500 would have to be paid before we could continue on our way. My driver was taken into Middelburg to pay the fine, costing another 90 minutes. Everywhere we went, every person we spoke to was celebrating the (albeit slow) return of international tourism, except for the Department of Transport, which appears to be actively preventing tour vehicles from returning to touring,’ Preusker said.

Government regulations do in fact state the following: ‘Renewal of a licence – an application for renewal of an operating licence must be made 30 days before expiry of the licence. Where an application for renewal was lodged timeously and the NPTR has not issued the licence by expiry date, the operating licence remains valid until the entity either issues the renewal licence or notifies the applicant that the application has been refused. The applicant must keep in the vehicle the receipt issued by NPTR together with the operating licence as proof that such application has been made.’

Boris Mohr experienced a similar scenario. ‘I have been waiting since 2019 for my accreditation, closed my tourism company at the end of 2019 due to not being able to get a tourism operating license, although the transport tribunal, which I took the case to, declared to issue me with a permit. Nothing happened. Now I tried to get back into tourism, still no accreditation and waiting for my permit since May this year.’

Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) told Business Day he had even raised the matter with President Cyril Ramaphosa. ‘We have complained about this for some time. No one can say they didn’t know. But they’re doing nothing about it,’ he said. ‘The NPTR is sabotaging the recovery and growth of this crucial industry.’

Getaway has reached out to the National Public Transport Regulator as well as the Department of Transport for comment, but has not received feedback yet. The article will be updated if and when comment is received.

Are you a tour operator or involved in the industry and have experienced issues with the vehicle licencing impasse, or do you have information we don’t? We would like to hear from you. Email your experiences to [email protected].

Picture: Pexels

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