The roadblock to digital driver’s licences in South Africa

Digital driver’s licences could go a long way in eliminating South Africa’s licensing woes, however, there is one major issue standing in the way of the rollout of these electronic documents – they don’t make enough money.

The Department of Transport (DoT) in 2023 revealed that it intends to incorporate smart-card technologies into the country’s new licence cards, the latter of which were supposed to be introduced by April 2024 but have suffered several delays.

These smart-card technologies would pave the way for electronic driver’s licences (eDL), which the DoT at the time said would be rolled out in a phased approach over the next three years until 2025/26.

While this was lauded by motorists and civil society organisations alike, complete radio silence from the DoT regarding eDLs ever since has led some experts to believe that these digital documents probably won’t become a reality any time soon.

Driver’s licence cards serve no purpose

Rob Handfield-Jones, road safety expert and managing director of driving skills company Driving.co.za, said there is no technological or practical obstacle in the way of introducing eDLs to South Africa.

He contends that road fatalities have only risen since the introduction of expiring driver’s licence cards over 25 years ago, hence, they serve no real purpose other than to line the pockets of government.

“There is no technological or practical obstacle to digital licensing and enforcement,” Handfield-Jones told MyBroadband.

“Rather, the problem is the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s (RTMC) refusal to give up the revenue streams that go with analogue document production.”

This is not only limited to driver and vehicle licensing, as the expert notes that profits have always carried more weight for the powers that be than improving the lives of the country’s citizens.

“Setting aside the question of whether a physical card is needed at all, there is no valid safety, efficiency, or social reason for the renewal of driving licence cards,” he said.

“Government has offered a post facto argument over the durability of both the ID book and ID cards, but there is no evidence of this having been a concern prior to 1998, or afterwards for that matter.”

Government previously said that physical driver’s licence cards must be renewed every five years due to the material they are made of being believed to only last for this amount of time.

However, Handfield-Jones argues that if this was the case, the five-year renewal period should have been standard across all official documents, including Identity Documents.

“It’s nonsense, but the government has somehow been permitted to advance a narrative that a driving licence is different to almost every other official document,” he said.

“This is because licence card renewals are a money-making racket.”

Recently, RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi said the true reason driver’s licence cards are only valid for five years is because motorists must be subjected to regular health checks to ensure they are still fit to drive a vehicle.

Handfield-Jones didn’t bite.

“Until they [can provide a valid argument regarding five-year licence renewals], the only rational conclusion was that it was done solely for the purposes of generating revenue… which the Road Traffic Management Corporation won’t give up without a fight,” he said.

“In my view, the reason the government recently backtracked on extending the renewal period is that the Department of Transport did its sums and realised how much renewal fee revenue would be lost.”

Handfield-Jones said that the infrastructure to support eDLs is already there and that the virtual documents can be integrated into the country’s licensing regime almost seamlessly.

The original Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act maintained that every traffic officer must carry a digital terminal.

The Aarto Act is currently loosely in effect in the municipalities of Tshwane and Johannesburg, and intended to roll out to the rest of the country over the coming year.

This digital terminal could have enabled automatic number plate recognition and a central database contact for verifying the details of holders of eDLs.

Even a standard modern smartphone could achieve these functions at a low cost, enabling simple roadside verification of both driving licences and vehicle licences, said the expert.

On that note, Handfield-Jones said that vehicle licence discs should be digital, too.

“After all, vehicles have a permanent VIN number marking, and are required to have a metal number plate permanently affixed to the vehicle; what need do we still have of a paper licence disc?” he said.

On the point of health checkups, Handfield-Jones said that drivers can perform medical exams such as eye tests at registered optometrists and do not have to go to a Driver’s Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) to do so.

In fact, the road safety advocate holds the view that expiring driver’s licence cards have done nothing but exacerbate the carnage on South Africa’s roads.

“Before 1998, South African driving licences had no renewal process, and 1998 was the safest year in our history on our roads,” he said.

“The fatality rate has at least quadrupled since 1998, so there is no evidence that card renewals have been of any benefit.”

This, he said, is largely a consequence of citizens buying their licences from corrupt officials despite lacking the know-how to drive a car responsibly.

“That traces back to the 1996 evisceration of the Instructor’s Test and the implementation of the centralised licence booking system shortly afterwards,” said Handfield-Jones.

“No other factors can explain the abrupt doubling of fatality rates from 1998 to 2006 after they had declined in a straight line from 1985 onwards.”

This was a large motivator behind Driving.co.za’s decision to migrate its business model to online training, as Handfield-Jones was afraid that a bought-licence driver would eventually kill one of the instructors during defensive driver training.

“We are talking about people who cannot brake or steer properly, literally the equivalent of a learner with 3–4 hours of instruction under their belts,” he said.

“It is impossible they could have passed a properly-administered government driving test. But they have a valid driving licence card, properly registered on e-Natis.”

The rampant corruption in South Africa’s driving licence industry has likely contributed to over 300,000 excess road deaths in the past 25 years, said Handfield-Jones.

“But South Africa seems to lack the will to hold the corrupt licensing examiners — and their corruptors — accountable for these crimes,” he said.

“By which I mean that it’s strange that hundreds of thousands of 18-year-old licence applicants seem to know how to buy a licence, but SAPS and the Hawks don’t.”