The appointment of French-owned IDEMIA as the preferred bidder for South Africa’s driving licence card machines tender has been declared irregular, invalid, unlawful, and unenforceable.
The North Gauteng High Court has set aside IDEMIA’s appointment as the preferred bidder, effective 6 January. The Department of Transport (DoT) welcomed the ruling in a statement.
The DoT said it took the matter to court after the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) found irregularities in the tender process, and that the outcome has vindicated the department’s concerns.
Minister Barbara Creecy stated that the court outcome is “a vindication of the Department’s commitment to the transparency and legitimacy of tender processes.”
“The decision to approach the court for guidance on the matter was a necessary step for effective regulation,” she added.
This is a change of tune from when the tender was first announced in August 2024.
Department Spokesperson Collen Msibi defended the tender process, a month after Creecy was appointed, asserting that it was “clean,” “fair”, and “transparent.”
“The processes were above board, as far as we are concerned, and the process that we undertook clears us in terms of saying that the prescribed legislation and the policies were followed,” he said.
The tender was to secure a service provider for additional driving licence printers, as South Africa currently has one ageing printer prone to breakdowns.
The printing machine broke down from February to May 2025, and as a result, the Department only cleared a backlog of 2,239,456 driving licences by 8 December 2025.
The DoT will now have to further delay plans to secure additional printers and advertise the tender within 30 days of the court order.
While the tender process begins again, the DoT in the interim announced the approval of the prototype driving licence card designed by the Department of Home Affairs’ Government Printing Works.
Additionally, the establishment of the network connection between the Road Traffic Management Corporation and GPW was successfully tested, allowing the transfer of data to the Department of Home Affairs.
A cabinet process will soon be undertaken to approve the prototype card design.
A history of tender irregularities
In August 2024, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) was swift to point out that the tender cost ballooned from R486 million to R899 million. IDEMIA’s bid itself was hiked from an original R762 million to R898.6 million.
“OUTA highlighted several irregularities, including multiple reissues and extensions of the tender, suggesting favouritism towards a specific bidder,” the organisation said.
The tender was issued by the Driving Licence Card Account, an entity operating under the Department.
The tender process ran three times between 2021 and 2023, and was cancelled and reissued without clear reasons, said OUTA.
The AGSA found that “IDEMIA failed to meet key bid technical requirements,” however, it added that all of the bids exceeded the budgeted amount of R486 million, indicating inadequate market analysis and budgeting.
This is not the first time that the French technology company IDEMIA has been implicated in suspicious tenders with South African State-Owned Entities.
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) uncovered evidence of wrongdoing in the tender process for its biometric e-gate project, where IDEMIA was, again, the preferred bidder.
IDEMIA was awarded a R115 million contract to implement the new technology. The tender process was questioned by the company’s local BEE partner, InfoVerge, who took the matter to court.
Following an investigation, ACSA dismissed its Chief Information Officer in relation to the tender and cancelled IDEMIA’s contract.
The DoT was made aware of the ACSA scandal shortly after appointing the company, but Msibi stated that the ACSA investigation has no connection to the driving licence tender.
He added that the DoT was under immense pressure to clear a mounting backlog of driving licences and said that it would be criticised if it halted the tender process for the ACSA investigation.
IDEMIA denied any wrongdoing in the tender process for the driver’s licence card printer machine, telling MyBroadband that it legitimately and lawfully won the tender.
On the matter of the biometric e-gates, the French company again denied that it was responsible for the irregularities.
The company said that it “acknowledged and respected ACSA’s decision to terminate the contract,” calling the situation “unfortunate.”
IDEMIA is a global technology company specialising in identity and security solutions. It works with over 600 government, state and federal organisations worldwide.
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