Alarm bells for South Africa’s new driver’s licence cards

The appointment of French company Idemia as the preferred bidder for South Africa’s new smart driver’s licence cards has been met with skepticism by the Automobile Association (AA).

On 1 September 2024, the Department of Transport (DoT) announced that it had selected Idemia to produce the nation’s new driver’s licence cards following years of delays.

Idemia’s company profile describes itself as a leader in biometrics and cryptography. In the past, it has worked with over 600 government-linked entities around the globe, including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA).

“Idemia is expected to enter into a service-level agreement with the department in due course before commencing with its work to put in place the infrastructure and systems,” said the DoT in its official statement released to the public.

“More information in terms of the timeframes will thereafter be made available to the public once the service agreement has been signed.”

It also noted that considering the cost drivers of producing the licence card and the risk of fraud and corruption, the new documents will “continue to be manufactured centrally.”

Eyebrows raised

The AA said that the appointment of Idemia to carry out such a vital service for South Africa has raised more questions than answers in terms of how the cryptography firm was selected as the best candidate.

“In mid-June we posed several questions to the DoT in relation to this process, but we have so far not received any response,” said the AA.

“Among the questions we asked were the level of involvement, if any, by the Government Printing Works – GPW – in the process of drafting and evaluating bidders, and why the GPW had not been considered the sole provider of this service given that they perform government’s security printing function.”

The AA calls on the DoT 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,” said the AA.

Similarly, in mid-June, the DoT noted that it was “… on track to deliver new driver’s licence card and printing equipment for the country amid initial challenges of finding suitable service provider/s.”

However, the AA said that the country’s citizens still do not know what these “challenges” are, nor how they impacted the finalisation of Idemia as the preferred service provider.

Throwing fuel on the fire, the AA said that the appointment of Idemia by the DoT came less than a week after ACSA terminated its contract with the company for Automated Border Control services.

“In its statement announcing the termination of the contract last Tuesday, ACSA noted that ‘… (it) remains committed to the best interests of good corporate governance, transparency, and fairness as (it) continues with an independent investigation’,” said the AA.

“That investigation concerns the way the contract with Idemia was concluded.”

The AA plans to raise questions on the appointment of Idemia through formal communication with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, as well as with other bodies such as the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Auditor-General.

In addition, the AA calls on the DoT to clarify its stance on digital driver’s licences.

“We have seen the digitisation of many functions in both the private and public sector – the functioning of the SA Revenue Service is a good example,” said the AA.

“We must question why the digitisation of licence cards is not top of the agenda at the DoT.”

The ability to manage driving licences through fingerprints would, in the eyes of the AA, be more appropriate and more secure, especially given the rate of forgery of physical cards.

“Huge amounts of public funds are at play in this process and the public, justifiably, has a right to understand to whom this money will be paid and how it will be allocated,” the AA concludes.

“By not taking citizens into their confidence on this important matter, the DoT are effectively laying the groundwork for accusations of impropriety in the allocation of funds – accusations which will taint the process from its inception.”