Big changes for online driver’s licence renewals in South Africa

The Department of Transport (DoT) plans to make several upgrades to the online driver’s licence and vehicle registration system within the 2025/2026 financial year.

This was revealed by Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa during his Budget Vote Speech on Wednesday, 2 July 2025.

During his speech, the minister confirmed that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) plans to expand its services over the coming year.

“These platforms have significantly improved accessibility and efficiency, reducing queues at licensing centres and providing a more convenient service to our citizens,” said Hlengwa.

“In the year ahead, the RTMC will expand these services by onboarding at least four additional registration clients, ensuring broader access and impact.”

One of the RTMC’s goals is to deploy Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology to improve the performance of its online portals.

Hlengwa explained that this will reduce the service’s reliance on copper connectivity and enhance the network’s performance, security, and resilience at driver’s licence testing centres (DLTCs) around the country.

The DoT also plans to introduce biometric data into critical business processes to improve identity verification as a means to eliminate fraudulent activities.

One of the biggest changes, however, has to do with learner and driver’s licence applications, which are being digitized.

“The RTMC will also continue to roll out and enhance the Computerised Learner’s Licence Testing (CLLT) system and introduce a fully digitised driving licence testing process.”

Hlengwa stated that a digital learner’s test will modernise the way driver competence is assessed in South Africa, greatly improving efficiency while ensuring a fair and secure testing process.

The push for more digital services follows the launch of the RTMC’s online National Traffic Information System (eNatis) in 2021, which has been a major success.

The service started out as a portal for motorists to submit online vehicle licence disc renewals, but has since been expanded to include driver’s licence card renewals, learner’s licence test bookings, and damage reports for car accidents.

The minister said that the eNatis website processes more than two million online licence renewals in the last financial year, representing a 54% year-on-year increase from the 2023/2024 period.

It also processed 78,566 online registrations and 112,845 online change of ownership transactions.

The bottleneck in South Africa’s licence renewal plans

South Africa’s plan to upgrade and expand its driver’s licence renewal services is all well and good, but it fails to address the elephant in the room.

While the digital service makes it far easier for people to apply to renew their driver’s licence, the process of obtaining a physical card is still held back by the country’s singular card printing machine.

This creates a major bottleneck in the renewal process, as the machine is limited by the number of cards it can produce per day.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy previously stated that the printer can churn out approximately 14,000 cards per day, which is not a lot considering that this one machine is meant to supply the entire nation.

Compounding the issue is the fact that the printer is very old and prone to malfunction, which has resulted in several breakdowns over the past five years.

Most recently, the printer was out of order from 5 February to 8 May, resulting in a production backlog that peaked at around 747,000 cards.

The DoT currently estimates that it will take up to six months to clear the current backlog.

Creecy later announced that the DoT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Home Affairs-run Government Printing Works to resolve the issue.

“To ensure we have a backup solution, we have signed an MOU with the Government Printing Works,” she said.

“We expect that this backup solution will be able to print driver’s license cards within three months.”

However, the minister has not elaborated on what this plan entails.

The DoT was previously looking to procure a new licence card printer, but this plan stalled after it was discovered there were irregularities in the tender process awarding the contract to a French company – Idemia.