{"id":811101,"date":"2025-02-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=811101"},"modified":"2025-02-11T07:39:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T05:39:58","slug":"bad-news-about-driving-licences-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/811101\/bad-news-about-driving-licences-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news about driving licences in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Auditor-General (AG) has concluded an investigation into a controversial driver’s licence card printing machine tender that could significantly delay South Africa\u2019s new licence cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is moving to new smart driving licence cards with enhanced security features to combat fraud and counterfeiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit is that the new driving licence cards would be produced at a faster rate, cutting down on motorists’ waiting times to renew their licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), a Department of Transport entity, had to procure a new machine to produce the new cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s current driver’s licence card printing machine is 26 years old and has experienced 159 breakdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no backup printing machine, which means a breakdown can significantly delay motorists’ getting their new licence cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 1 September 2024, the Department of Transport announced that it had appointed IDEMIA Identity and Security to produce new smart driving licence cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this tender was marred with controversy, including the contract price ballooning from the budgeted R468 million to R899 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) also alleged tampering with the pricing envelopes in the bids and that at least one bidder was wrongly marked down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 5 September 2024, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy requested the Auditor-General to expedite and widen the scope of this tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It included whether supply chain management prescripts were followed, personal data safety specifications, and IDEMEIA’s technical capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2025, the Auditor-General handed the investigation report to the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Department of Transport spokesperson Collen Msibi said the report was being studied, and a public statement on its findings would be issued at an appropriate time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy committed to releasing an executive summary of the Auditor-General report, including recommendations on the way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New driving licence card delay<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The latest debacle surrounding the new driving licence card printing machine tender will further delay South Africa\u2019s progress towards smart licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s cabinet approved the new driving licence cards and printer plan in August 2022 and issued the relevant tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim was a three-year phased rollout of the new system from 2023 to 2026. However, this did not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The missed deadlines were blamed on issues surrounding the printing machine tender, which was withdrawn, and a new one issued in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said printing the new driving licence cards would begin in April 2024. Again, this did not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2024, there was encouraging news that IDEMIA Identity was selected and would procure three driving licence card printing machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two machines will be used at the primary driving licence card production site, while one will be reserved for the disaster recovery site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant that South Africa would no longer be reliant on a single printing machine, which was prone to breakdowns and long delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy added that the new machines will be maintained and repaired in South Africa, unlike the current machine, which must be shipped overseas for repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, should the Auditor-General report point to wrongdoing, it is a distinct possibility and can cause further delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage has already called on Creecy to cancel the current tender and reopen a new one with robust oversight mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that if the minister decides to award the tender to Idemia and not halt the process, it will likely lead to litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, South Africans should not expect to see the new driving licence cards and quicker turnaround times anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a blow to South African motorists who dread renewing their driving licence cards every five years due to the unpleasant experience associated with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Auditor-General has concluded an investigation into a controversial licence card printing machine tender that can significantly delay new licence cards for South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":712638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[20963,8452,21685,2552,21683,21684],"class_list":["post-811101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-auditor-general-ag","tag-barbara-creecy","tag-collen-msibi","tag-department-of-transport","tag-driving-licence-card-account-dlca","tag-driving-licences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811101"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811108,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811101\/revisions\/811108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}