Driving licence chaos in South Africa

The Department of Transport’s (DoT) Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) is facing a driving licence printing backlog, and it is unclear whether South Africa’s only printer is currently operational.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy recently revealed her concerns over the backlog and said the department was trying to enhance maintenance so that the machine could “resume” printing.

“I’m very concerned that we have an existing backlog, and to deal with that backlog, we’re giving temporary cards,” Creecy told Newzroom Afrika.

“It’s common knowledge that the existing machine is very old. We are trying to enhance maintenance efforts so that it can resume printing, but I have also requested the acting director general to look at interim solutions.”

MyBroadband asked the DoT whether the machine is currently operational and about the extent of the printing backlog, but it hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

The department faces two other significant challenges threatening its ability to clear the printing backlog: the threat of a DLCA worker strike and a dodgy tender process surrounding the procurement of new driving licence printers.

In early March 2025, workers at the DLCA announced their intentions to down tools as they fight for permanent posts and full benefits at the DoT-managed entity.

They claim they were promised permanent employment nearly 10 years ago.

“The South African public will not receive any licence cards, and we definitely don’t want to do that,” an anonymous worker said.

“We’ve been serving the South African public for years now. We’ve been clearing the backlogs, and we feel like we’re not being appreciated. We’re not even being seen.”

“There are staff members that left, went home on retirement and got nothing. No UIF, nothing. I don’t think it’s fair,” another added.

DoT spokesperson Collen Msibi emphasised that the department can’t afford DLCA workers to strike, describing the situation as a crisis.

He said the DoT must move as fast as possible but warned that the Public Service Act limits the department when offering permanent positions.

“There is an HR workstream which has been put in place and is working together with what we call the organisational development of the department,” said Msibi.

He said the goal was to establish a structure where the employees could be absorbed in line with the Public Service Act.

The news of the potential strike came just days after the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) revealed that the DoT’s awarding of the driving licence printing contract to Idemia in August 2024 was irregular.

The findings prompted Creecy to instruct her department to approach the High Court to cancel the contract.

“Idemia, the winning bidder, failed to meet key bid technical requirements,” the AGSA wrote in its report.

It said the DLCA’s R486 million budget for the tender was too low, adding that other bidders weren’t unfairly disqualified as they also failed to meet the criteria.

“The DLCA used outdated pre-Covid prices, and the budget they submitted to cabinet for approval did not include all the costs for the contract, leading to cabinet approving a memo that was not a true reflection of the cost of the contract,” the AGSA said.

It added that, had the project been allowed to proceed at the original budget, there would have been a high risk of delay or cancellation due to insufficient funds.

The AGSA also found instances of non-compliance with prescribed procurement processes.

“The non-compliances emanated from transgressions of SCM prescripts, rendering the procurement process irregular,” it said.

Instances of non-compliance resulted from the following:

• Budget analysis inadequately conducted by the DLCA
• Failure to follow the full evaluation criteria while evaluating bids
• Inconsistent scoring during the evaluation process

The AGSA added that the bid evaluation committee deviated from the criteria set out in the tender’s specifications while assessing the bids. This was due to the requirements being ambiguous.

“The ambiguity led to discrepancies identified by the AGSA, resulting in an unfair and non-transparent procurement process,” it said.

The AGSA said the DLCA’s bid evaluation committee also failed to inspect the correct machine when determining whether it had the required capacity to deliver on the requirements.

“However, the DLCA chose to inspect an unrelated machine. Management has not provided a satisfactory explanation or evidence for this decision,” it said.