South Africa’s serious problem with driving licences

South Africa currently has a driving licence backlog of 733,000 cards, with the printing machine consistently breaking down and costing the country millions of rands a year. 

The Department of Transport has also failed to acquire a new machine, with the current machine being slated for replacement since 2009.

This was revealed by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy in a written response to a parliamentary question from MP Songezo Zibi. 

Zibi asked Creecy to outline how many times the licence card printing machine had broken down over the past three financial years, and how much it has cost to repair the machine. 

This was coupled with questions regarding the overtime pay for the machine operators to make up for the several backlogs in recent years. 

The backlog created by each breakdown of the machine has become increasingly severe, with the government unable to implement a long-term solution to the problem. 

Currently, driver’s licence cards are produced by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), which forms part of the Department of Transport. 

The DLCA still relies on one very old machine to produce all the country’s driving licence cards.

The machine’s latest breakdown lasted over three months, from 5 February to 8 May, resulting in a backlog of over 750,000 cards.

Despite the Department of Transport assuring South Africans that it would push hard, including making its staff work longer hours to reduce the backlog, it still stands at 733,000 cards. 

This is because the department receives thousands of new applications on an average working day, adding to the backlog.

With a maximum production capacity of 14,000 to 19,000 cards in a 14-hour shift, it would thus take 40 to 53 days to clear that backlog, excluding the addition of any new card applications.

This breakdown and the resulting backlog are only one of many in a long line, with the printing machine breaking down 159 times in its 26 years of operation.

Since 2022, the machine has been out of action for 129 working days and has cost the department over R12 million to repair, according to Creecy in response to Zibi’s questions. 

Including the overtime payment to the four machine operators to try to reduce the backlog, the machine’s breakdowns have cost the department over R15 million since 2022. 

Long-term solutions

The Department of Transport has known that the solution to the problem would be to acquire a new printing machine that is more reliable and perhaps operate multiple machines for redundancy. 

Former Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said the current driver’s licence card printer was “obsolete and prone to constant breakdown”.

Her predecessor, Fikile Mbalula, said in 2022 that revamping and modernising the printing machine system was the solution to the debacle.

However, a viable solution is yet to be implemented, with the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) saying that the only question is when the machine will break down again.

“This old card machine is prone to regular breakdowns and is bound to break down again. It is also seriously lacking in modern security features,” advocate Stefanie Fick, OUTA Executive Director, said.

The machine was slated to be replaced in 2009, but it has not been replaced. It has operated since 1998 and will continue to be relied upon for the foreseeable future.

OUTA has repeatedly called for a new machine to be procured to reduce the burden on the existing machine, replace it, or even do away with physical driver’s licence cards completely. 

The department has tried to buy a new machine, but this has been stuck in an extended procurement process, with the Cabinet first approving a plan in August 2022 to acquire a new printer. 

This new printer was to be installed in 2023, and new driver’s licence cards with enhanced security features were to be rolled out from 2023 to 2026. 

However, these deadlines came and went without any sight of the new printer or driving licence cards. South Africans still suffer from printing machine breakdowns and long delays.

Fick said that the DLCA has tried to procure a machine for years but has repeatedly cancelled and reissued the tender.

On 8 August 2024, the DLCA awarded Idemia Identity and Security South Africa a R898.6 million tender for the new machine. 

A month later, OUTA identified several irregularities in the procurement process and called for the tender to be overturned. 

On 5 March 2025, Minister Creecy announced that an Auditor-General investigation had found irregularities in the tender process and that she had instructed her department to lodge a high court application for a declaratory order for guidance on how to proceed in the light of the AGSA findings.

The DLCA does not appear to have issued a new tender for the machine. However, on 10 March 2025, the DLCA issued a tender looking at how to make more money out of the driving licence cards. 

The bid called for “a qualified service provider to review the current cost model and develop a new cost model aligned to a fair recoverable amount for the driver’s license card”.

It said that “the DLCA has finalised the appointment of a service provider to acquire/procure the new driving license card production machine”. 

The DLCA also said that it last adjusted tariffs in January 2014, and that the “DLCA is of the opinion that it is not realising/recovering the total cost to produce the Driver’s licence card”.

This bid closed on 11 April. In her response to Zibi, Creecy said that she is waiting for a declaratory order from the courts regarding the tender to acquire a new machine.