New driving licences in South Africa a big step closer
South Africa is edging closer to finally rolling out its oft-delayed upgrades to its driving licence cards, with the Department of Transport appointing a preferred bidder to produce the cards.
The department announced that it has selected security group Idemia Identity and Security as the preferred bidder, which was approved in early August.
Idemia is a specialist in biometrics and cryptography and says it works with over 600 government and federal departments around the world. In South Africa it counts Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Tymebank among its clients.
The group will reportedly enter into a service-level agreement with the department—though it has not given any timelines for the process.
This comes as the department has set and missed several of its own deadlines, including the plan to roll out the new cards provincially on a pilot basis in April 2024.
For more than 25 years, South Africa has depended on a single printer for its driver’s licence card production needs. One card takes an average of 14 working days to complete.
This inefficient process, along with the printer’s advanced age, has led to frequent malfunctions and breakdowns, resulting in a significant backlog of licence renewal applications—reaching a peak of 1.3 million between 2022 and 2023.
To tackle these challenges, a new, faster machine was issued for tender, which could produce multiple cards daily and improve the security features of the cards.
Cabinet gave the go-ahead for a turnkey solution on 30 August 2022, and a bid for the procurement of a new one was advertised on 10 November 2022.
However, this bid process was unsuccessful, resulting in a re-advertisement of the bid on 5 April 2023.
Idemia was one of the five bidders who put forward proposals. The bids were received from the following bidders:
- Ren-Form Corporate Print Media
- Nec Xon Systems (PTY) LTD
- Muehlbauer ID Services GMBH
- Gemalto Altron Fintech Southern Africa (PTY) LTD
- Idemia Identity and Security – South Africa
Good and the bad
The new cards will be beefed up with enhanced security features to clamp down on fraud and counterfeiting, and will hopefully be able to be produced at a much faster rate than currently.
“Considering the cost drivers of producing the driving licence and the risk of fraud and corruption, the new driving licence will continue to be manufactured centrally,” the department said.
The Transport Department has also been upgrading its Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs) and its systems to make the process of applying for and renewing licences much easier.
The new driver’s licence cards accompanying the new printer are expected to look very different from the current ones (see images below), as outlined by a transport department tender document.
However, with the upgrades comes a downside in terms of the licence card validity period, which is currently expected to be stuck at five-year intervals.
This is despite the Road Traffic Management Corporation’s own research showing that an extension to 8 years is better suited for the country.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) recently published the RTMC’s research after the Transport Department and the RTMC both walked back the plan to extend licence validity, citing “health and wellness” reasons.
“This includes eye tests, which are able to determine the deterioration of a driver’s vision and if a necessary restriction needs to be listed on an individual’s license,” it said.
The RTMC also expressed this reasoning, claiming that “communicable diseases” were also part of the reasoning for dropping the extensions.
Outa rubbished this reasoning, saying it went against the RTMC’s own findings.
The Driving Licence Card Validity Period Review, written in May 2022 by consultants Zutari for the RTMC, proposed extending the driving licence card validity for light vehicles to eight years.
The report proposed that driving licence cards for light vehicles be valid for eight years instead of the current five years, while the validity for licence cards for heavy vehicles remains at five years.
Read: Massive fight over 5-year driving licence renewals in South Africa
Loading ...
