Good news for South Africans renewing their driving licence

The sole driving licence card printing machine in South Africa is back in service, the Department of Transport confirmed on Thursday (8 May).

The printer has been out of service since 5 February, which has led to a backlog of over 747,700 outstanding cards that need to be printed.

To address the backlog, the department said that hours at the Driving Licence Card Agency will be extended to ensure that it can process the cards.

“With the current catch-up plan, updates on the backlog reduction will be provided as and when significant progress is made,” it said.

However, it warned that the backlog reduction will be impacted by the number of new orders being made daily.

South Africa’s current licence card printing machine is 26 years old and has now experienced at least 160 breakdowns in its lifetime, which have become more frequent with age.

The country has attempted to overhaul its licencing regime by turning to new, updated and more secure cards with additional printers, however the tender process around this has stalled.

With a backlog of almost 750,000 cards, drivers renewing their licences should expect delays. Delays will be concentrated where the backlog is biggest.

The breakdown of the backlog per province is as follows:

• Gauteng: 252,745
• KwaZulu Natal: 115,020
• Western Cape: 108,402
• Mpumalanga: 66,833
• Limpopo: 61,769
• Eastern Cape: 55,393
• North West: 39,983
• Free State: 33,741
• Northern Cape: 13,862

To mitigate this, South Africans have been urged to obtain temporary driving licences while they wait for their permanent cards to be printed.