Big questions over South Africa’s R1-billion driving licence printers

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has raised further concerns over appointing Idemia Identity and Security South Africa as the preferred bidder to procure the country’s new driving licence card printers.

Speaking to CapeTalk, Outa executive director for accountability Stefanie Fick said the organisation had received documents from whistleblowers revealing that the cost of the new machines is far higher than initially expected.

“If you look at the documents that we receive through whistleblowers, firstly the price is way more than what was initially suggested,” said Fick.

“There are, in fact, two documents from the Bid Evaluation Committee. Both have the same date but two different numbers.”

“The numbers didn’t go down. The numbers went up. It was initially around R400 million. We are now talking double that: around R800 million, close to R900 million,” she added.

However, she noted that these are merely allegations and must be investigated.

Outa feels there is something untoward about the tender process for the driving licence card printers and wants the government to ensure the process is above board before spending the funds.

The Department of Transport announced in early September 2024 that Idemia was the preferred bidder to procure the new driving licence printers.

At the end of that same month, it was revealed that Idemia would procure three driving licence card printers for R334 million each.

Two of the machines will be used at the primary driving licence card production site, and the third is reserved for a disaster recovery site.

The R334 million price tag for each machine includes the required software for its operation.

In addition to revealing the cost of the new machines, transport Minister Barbara Creecy disclosed the costs associated with maintaining the 26-year-old machine currently in operation.

Creecy said the printer has cost R21 million to repair and maintain over the past five years, with a further R870,000 budgeted for the current financial year.

Repair and maintenance costs per year from 2019/20 to 2023/24 are as follows:

• 2019/20 — R2.49 million
• 2020/21 — R8.44 million
• 2021/22 — R4.71 million
• 2022/23 — R3.87 million
• 2023/24 — R1.58 million

“The current machine is nearing the end of its lifespan due to its age, which is why the Department has sourced a new device,” said Creecy.

She added that the new machines would be maintained and repaired locally, which was in marked contrast to the current machine, which had to be shipped to Germany for repairs.

Driving licence validity headache

Fick reiterated Outa’s stance on extending the driving licence card validity period in South Africa, which it believes should be longer than five years.

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Makhosini Msibi recently explained that the government won’t extend the validity period due to the risk of communicable diseases.

Msibi that many accidents on South African roads relate to infectious and other diseases, making regular eye tests crucial.

However, Fick says this is absurd.

“Government doesn’t want to listen to alternatives. We have said, along with other civil action organisations, the government should think about extending the validity to more than five years,” she said.

“Extend that! Immediately that will reduce the administrative burden. I don’t know how many of us are actually excited to go stand in a queue and waste a day to go get our driving licence cards renewed.”

She explained that, under former minister Fikile Mbalula, the transport department supported the idea of extending the validity period.

It even conducted research showing that the government should consider extending it to eight years.

She explained that the RTMC then came back with the absurd reasoning that it wouldn’t extend the validity period due to communicable diseases.

“When we asked on what they based this, the department told us that the research doesn’t exist,” added Fick.