New licence card printer machine in the works for South Africa

In a stunning turn of events, South Africa may soon have more than one driving licence card printer for the first time since the original machine was put into service nearly thirty years ago.

The current machine has served as the sole card producer since 1998, and the reason why this has remained the standard up until now is supposedly due to security concerns.

According to Former Automobile Association of South Africa spokesperson Layton Beard, centralising card production to a single machine was meant to minimise corruption.

Beard argued that if other groups were allowed to print cards, there could be a drastic increase in illicit behaviour, such as corrupt officials issuing cards.

That said, he stated that there’s no reason why the country should only have one machine, as two operating securely under one roof would only serve to improve production and reliability.

This would be a relief to South African motorists since recent years have seen multiple lengthy breakdowns of the sole printing machine.

As a result of these breakdowns, a massive backlog of cards has formed, and motorists have to wait far longer than normal to secure or renew their driving licence cards.

The worst example of this was a nearly four-month outage that occurred following an electrical fault caused by flooding in November 2022.

This breakdown resulted in a backlog of cards exceeding 1.3 million.

Due to the frequency of breakdowns, many motorists have been forced to secure temporary licences at their own expense to avoid being fined for driving with an expired card.

Growing public discontent and calls from civil society organisations eventually led the government to adopt a new smart polycarbonate driving licence card that would require a new printer.

New licence printer plans

To resolve the backlog and prevent future issues, the government conducted a tender process to secure a new card printing machine.

In September 2024, French firm Idemia won the bid; however, this was shortly followed by the Department of Transport lodging an application with the High Court to have this contract cancelled.

This is due to numerous irregularities found in the tender process.

While the courts settle this matter, the Department of Transport has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government Printing Works (GPW) for a backup printer.

“We expect that this backup solution will be able to print driver’s licence cards within three months,” said Barbara Creecy, transport minister.

However, a spokesperson of the department recently indicated that they were still ironing out details with Home Affairs, so it may be some time before South Africans see this plan begin.