What makes South Africa’s new driver’s licence better than the old one

South Africa will soon be getting new driver’s licence cards to crack down on the spread of fraudulent licences in the country.

These “smart” cards will feature a number of technology and security upgrades over the existing documents which will make them much harder to duplicate convincingly, according to Department of Transport (DoT) spokesperson Collen Msibi.

More specifically, the enhanced cards will boast discrete watermarks and a new reflector strip that are difficult to duplicate, Msibi told Newzroom Afrika.

The DoT previously also said that the new cards will incorporate user biometrics that can store data and be channelled through multiple authentication systems, rendering them compliant with the International Information Technology Personal Identification Compliant Driving Licence (ISO18013) standard.

For more hints of what to expect, we can look at tender documents submitted by the Driver’s Licence Card Account (DLCA) in November 2021 depicting what is likely to be the new cards:

The tender paperwork reveals that the card will consist of several layers of laminated polycarbonate each of which will feature security elements to avoid a single layer containing safety-related information. Hence, the full picture and all the relevant details will only be displayed if all the layers are stacked and aligned perfectly.

Along with the normal colourised photo of the licence holder, the new card will have a secondary laser-engraved image of the owner as well as a security background overlapping the image area to complicate cloning.

It will also employ non-standard type fonts, personalised data in UV fluorescent ink, and a QR code that contains the owner’s particulars which is linked to a national database.

This is all in addition to the type of information found on the existing cards, such as your full name, date of birth, ID number, gender, signature, the validity period of the card, date of issue, licence number, and licence code.

It should be noted that the finalised card will probably not look exactly like the one on the tender.

The DLCA clarified that the real design and artwork will only be revealed to the successful tender applicant after they have signed a non-disclosure agreement, so expect to see a slightly different layout once the official cards are revealed.

When are we getting the new cards?

On the matter of when we will be getting the new driver’s licence cards, Msibi noted that the timeline is still murky.

The DoT recently announced that it appointed French firm Idemia as the preferred service provider for the new driver’s licence cards with a contract value of roughly R1 billion.

This raised several red flags. For one, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) recently terminated its contract with Idemia after years of service, and two, the original budget for the project was set at R468 million, bringing about several questions on how it suddenly doubled.

The Minister of Transport therefore instructed the Auditor-General (AG) to investigate the Idemia tender with haste to determine whether any funny business took place with regard to it being declared the preferred bidder.

“If they investigate and they find certain things, [the DoT] has to be guided by Treasury on what happens next,” said Msibi.

“We are not saying that we are turning a blind eye on the issue of ACSA, of course it is a factor, but we need to see what happens out of that particular process. We can’t say we need to stop everything now that there’s this issue of ACSA.”

It’s a case of innocent until proven guilty, he said.

Should the AG’s investigations find no reason to bar Idemia from producing the country’s driver’s licence cards, Msibi said several steps remain before they can be rolled out to the public.

He noted that a service-level agreement between the DoT and Idemia remains to be signed by both parties, after which Idemia must set up the necessary infrastructure and systems specifically designed to produce the more technologically advanced licence cards.

Once complete, the DoT will launch a pilot project for the licences that will run for anywhere from six to eight months to stress-test the new system.

If it gets the green light, the new licence cards will be introduced to the motoring public in a phased approach.

“When we roll out it’s going to be phased over a number of years, it’s not just going to be boom, everybody has it,” said Msibi.

He said it would be similar to when smart ID cards were introduced to South Africa in 2013. At the time, first-time ID applicants received the cards automatically and those who were renewing their old ID books could also elect to get a card.

“So we’re looking at something like that to happen,” concluded Msibi.

“We have to be honest with the nation to say it’s not something that’s just going to happen overnight, we still have to have that period where [Idemia] put all those infrastructure and the systems in place.”

The fear remains that should Idemia be dropped as the preferred bidder, the introduction of the new licence cards will be delayed even further.

Idemia wished to state that the contract between itself and ACSA was terminated for convenience, as previously reported in the press.

“This is a standard contractual right that allows either party to end the agreement without fault or dispute. Idemia is actively collaborating with ACSA on the close-out activities related to this termination,” said the company.

“Furthermore, Idemia has not been made privy to the scope of any investigations carried out by ACSA. Their focus remains on ensuring a smooth and professional conclusion to their contractual relationship with ACSA.”