New driving licence card plan

The Department of Transport (DoT) is waiting for the High Court to provide guidance on the best way to proceed with its plans to introduce new driving licence cards in South Africa.

Transport minister Barbara Creecy recently instructed her department to approach the court to cancel the initial driving licence card tender awarded to French firm Idemia.

That decision was based on an investigation by the Auditor-General South Africa into the tender.

The AGSA found that none of the bidders for the contract met the key technical requirements as they all exceeded the R486 million budget the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) had for the project.

The AGSA explained that the DLCA used outdated prices from before the Covid-19 pandemic and the budget it submitted to cabinet for approval did not include all costs for the contract.

Late last year, Creecy revealed to Parliament that each of the three new card printers being procured from Idemia would cost R334 million, working out to a total cost of more than R1 billion.

The Auditor-General found that the procurement process was non-compliant.

It also said the bid evaluation committee had deviated from assessing the bids using the criteria in the tender’s specifications.

The AG also raised questions about the DLCA officials’ perplexing choice not to inspect the actual machine being procured during a technical evaluation site visit at Idemia.

Idemia has maintained that its participation in the tender process was legitimate and lawful and that it took the irregularities identified by the auditor general seriously.

MyBroadband asked the department what its next steps were with regards to the new licence cards and whether it would be restarting the tender process or scrap the plan altogether.

DoT spokesperson Collen Msibi told MyBroadband that the department did not want to pre-empt legal processes currently before the court.

“The reason for the High Court application for a declaratory order is to seek guidance from the court on how to proceed with the matter,” Msibi said.

Avoiding any further delays

Getting legal assurance on the best approach for the driving licence card tender seems like a sound decision to ensure the process is done by the book and further delays can be avoided.

The plan to launch a new driving licence card was first confirmed by former transport minister Fikile Mbalula in early 2022. It was also approved by cabinet later that year.

Mbalula’s announcements came after the government took flak for continuing to use one card printer to produce the entire country’s licence cards.

The criticism was inflamed by a two-month breakdown of the machine while the DLCA was already experiencing a backlog in card issuances due to the Covid-19 lockdown, corruption, and technical problems.

South Africa’s current driving licence card printer is nearly three decades old and has regularly suffered technical problems and breakdowns affecting the department’s ability to deliver new and renewed cards.

The laminated card itself is also outdated by international standards and has become a prime target for identity thieves and fraudsters, alongside the green ID book.

The proposed polycarbonate card features a plethora of security improvements, including an embedded microchip.

The upgrades not only make it more robust against forgery or fraudulent alteration, it also makes the card more suitable for South Africans who wish to drive while travelling overseas.

The new licence card was supposed to begin testing in late 2023 with full rollout by the end of March 2024. From April 2024, the DLCA would have stopped issuing the old licence cards completely.

However, these plans were substantially delayed due to repeated publishing and withdrawal of the tender and the AG’s investigation into its irregular evaluation process.

The department only announced five preferred bidders in June 2024 and appointed Idemia as the provider in August 2024.

It announced Idemia as the winner a month later but only a few days thereafter, Creecy announced her instruction to the AG to widen the scope of its review into the card tender.

It remains to be seen whether Idemia will again bid to provide the machine and associated technologies needed to support the new licence cards, if the High Court agrees with the department’s request to have the awarded tender cancelled.