Good news about driver’s licence crisis in South Africa

South Africa’s Transport Minister has come out in support of an eight-year driver’s licence in the country to alleviate the pressure on the Department of Transport to process renewals. 

This is one of many potential solutions to the country’s licence crisis over the past few years, with the government unable to provide a long-term solution. 

The state’s machine to print licence cards regularly breaks down as it is operating far beyond its design-life, with it initially planned to be replaced in 2009. It has been in operation since 1998. 

Despite plans to replace the printer bring approved by the Cabinet in August 2022, no machine has been procured as the tender is repeatedly cancelled and reissued. 

To resolve the crisis, various measures have been proposed with the finalisation of the procurement of a new machine being only one. 

One of the relatively easier ways to alleviate pressure on the ageing machine and the department is to extend the validity of licences beyond the existing five years. 

In a question and answer session in the National Council of Provinces, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has thrown her weight behind such a proposal. 

Creecy explained that her department has conducted a study comparing the validity periods of driver’s licences around the world to inform a process on extending South Africa’s beyond give years. 

“I read that study when I was appointed. It noted that if you are driving a bus, taxi, or a heavy vehicle, the suggestion is that there should be more regular renewal of those licences,” Creecy said. 

“We want to make sure that those people who are driving vehicles that can cause significant accidents or carrying passengers are renewing at least on a two-year basis for safety.”

“However, with regard to the driver’s licence for ordinary citizens like you and me, the suggestion is that we go for a period of eight year. I think that is something that we view in a favourable light.” 

Such a shift would be significant for the Department of Transport, marking the first major change to driver’s licences in an extended period of time. 

The Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has repeatedly called for extending the validity of licence cards to ten years from the current five to reduce pressure on renewals. 

Driver’s licence crisis

South Africa’s single licence printing machine is notoriously unreliable, with it nearing 30 years of operation after an initial design life of 11 years. 

The repeated breakdown of the machine creates significant backlogs in licence renewals, sometimes reaching over 750,000 cards, as a three-month repair job did earlier this year. 

Simply put, the machine can no longer cope with the thousands of new applications the Department of Transport receives on a daily basis. 

In its 26 years of operation, South Africa’s licence printing machine has broken down 159 times, with the average backlog taking 40 days to clear. 

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

This division has previously justified having only one printer to enable it to strictly limit who can print licence cards to avoid corruption and fraud. 

Previous Transport Ministers have heavily criticised the reliance on a single machine that is being operated beyond its design life. 

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.

Despite this, a long-term solution to the problem is yet to be implemented, with the security measures of South Africa’s driver’s licence cards also being called into question. 

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, alongside other measures to ease the burden on the existing machine, such as extending the validity of licence cards and the introduction of digital licences. 

The Cabinet approved a plan in August 2022 to acquire a new printer to produce a modern licence card with enhanced security features. 

This new printer was set to be purchased and put to work with a three-year phased rollout from 2023 to 2026. No machine has been procured. 

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

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 findings.