Big problems with South Africa’s new driver’s licence card printer

South Africa has been waiting for a new driver’s licence card printing machine for nearly two years, but the device is still nowhere in sight.

Former Transport Minister Fikile Mbablula promised to obtain a new printer to replace the country’s ageing model, which is more than two decades old at this point.

However, the Department of Transport (DoT) has still not managed to procure a new printer as of mid-2024 owing to a lengthy tender process to find a suitable provider.

Delays causing delays

South Africa only has a single driver’s licence printing machine which is over 25 years old and prone to breakdowns, which has resulted in severe backlogs for licence renewals in the past, particularly in 2022 when motorists were applying for new cards after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

It is also the only printer of its kind still being used by any country in the world, which limits its ability to produce new types of “Smart” licence cards with modern security and identification features.

Mbablula, who served as transport minister from 2019 until 2023, promised that the government would find a new printer that would address the old one’s reliability issues, and that would allow the government to start distributing new Smart driver’s licence cards that are more in line with international standards.

During this time, the question was also raised as to whether the government would extend South Africa’s licence card validity periods from five to eight years.

However, both of these tasks were handed over to Sindisiwe Chikunga when she took over as minister in March 2023.

In June 2023, Chikunga’s department announced that South Africa would get its hands on its new driver’s licence cards by March 2024, following the launch a pilot project in November 2023.

This deadline came and went with no word from the DoT, which only broke its silence in April this year when Chikunga stated that the department would be printing its first new cards by the end of that same month, with at least 100 cards allocated for each province.

Again, this deadline was not met, which was then attributed to the “complex” process of finding a machine advanced enough to print South Africa’s Smart cards.

This was heavily criticized by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which demanded that the DoT be more transparent with the printer process.

It also demanded to see the report compiled by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) evaluating South Africa’s licence situation, from the printer to the proposal for longer validity periods.

This report was finally provided in August 2024, revealing that the government knew it should have replaced the country’s only printer 15 years earlier.

“The machine currently used to produce the cards has been in service since 1998 — which makes it about 26 years old — and should have been replaced in about 2009,” it says.

In addition, the skills needed to repair the old printer aren’t always available in South Africa, meaning the device had to be shipped to Germany when it broke down, exacerbating the card delays.

The report further raised questions concerning the eight-year licence extension, which RTMC CEO Makhosini Msibi dismissed in May on the grounds that there are a number of road accidents caused by communicable and other diseases, and that it remains “critical that we maintain [the current licence validity period] until all these issues have been dealt with.”

However, the RTMC report released in August concluded with a recommendation that the nation’s driver’s licence cards should have their valid periods extended.

Outa therefore accused the RTMC and DoT of lying to the public and disregarding its own research to maintain the current five-year system.

“It is clear that the RTMC is deliberately misleading the public on its so-called reason not to extend the driving licence card validity period,” said Stefanie Fick, OUTA’s Executive Director.

“Outa now questions the motives of the RTMC, as the ultimate decision to extend the validity period lies with the Minister of Transport, who in turn should not be influenced by an entity with vested financial interests in the decision.”

The civil action organisation went on to suggest that the real reason for the DoT’s decision has to do with the tender issued for the new printer, and the money that can be generated through shorter and more frequent licence card renewals.

The printer tender is managed by another DoT entity, the Driving Licence Card Account, which recently chose Idemia Identity and Security to produce South Africa’s new Smart cards from a final list of five bidders.

However, the Automobile Association (AA) has questioned the appointment, as there are still several unknown factors regarding the use of Idemia’s services.

The AA has called upon the government to make the following information available to the public:

• The value of the smart driver’s licence card contract
• The timeframes for the roll-out of the new smart driver’s licence cards
• The reason why Idemia was selected

“Surely the public has the right to know how this project is unfolding, but the lack of clarity in the appointment of the preferred bidder – including the apparent secrecy with which the tender was issued – raises concerns,” it said.