The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria has set aside the controversial contract with French tech firm IDEMIA for the printing of the country’s driving licences and ordered the Department of Transport to re-advertise the tender within 30 days.
Pending the appointment of a successful service provider under the re-advertised tender, the department has also been allowed by the court to outsource the services of printing and issuing of driving licence (cards) to the Department of Home Affairs.
The department announced in September last year that it had appointed biometric security company, IDEMIA, as the preferred bidder for a tender to print new South African driving licence smart cards. IDEMIA is a French multinational technology firm that provides biometric identification and security services.
The tender has been advertised and withdrawn repeatedly in recent years. The most recent tender was issued on March 8, 2023. The R898 million contract issued by the department to IDEMIA sparked outrage from civil organisations such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), who challenged the transparency of the tender.
The organisation believed the entire tender process was shrouded in uncertainty and a lack of transparency. As a result, Creecy requested the Auditor General – who at the time was undertaking an audit of the procurement process for the new driving licence card – to review the IDEMIA deal.
The AG’s findings flagged significant procurement irregularities and non-compliance with key tender requirements. Creecy and the transport deputy minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa have meanwhile welcomed the High Court’s declaratory order that sets aside the appointment of IDEMIA as a preferred bidder for the Driving Licence Card Machines tender. The court declared that the tender was irregular, invalid, unlawful and unenforceable.
Reacting to the court’s declaratory order, Creecy stated that the court outcome is a vindication of the Department’s commitment to the transparency and legitimacy of tender processes with the decision to approach the court for guidance on the matter as a necessary step for effective regulation.
Meanwhile, on December 9, 2025, the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) agency cleared the backlog of driving licence cards that were outstanding for printing following the breakdown of the printing machine from February to May 2025. As a result, from May to December 2025, 2 239 456 driving licence cards were printed by the DLCA.
The State Security Agency has approved the prototype driving licence card designed by the Government Printing Works (GPW). “The establishment of the network connection between the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and GPW was successfully tested. This will allow the transfer of data/files required by GPW to print the driving licence cards,” the department said. It added that a Cabinet process will soon be undertaken to seek its approval of the prototype card design.
South Africa has depended on a single printer for decades to produce driver licence cards. With the machine, one card takes an average of 14 working days to complete. This inefficient process and the printer’s advanced age have led to frequent malfunctions and breakdowns, which resulted in a significant backlog of licence renewal applications.
To tackle this challenge, the transport department issued a tender for new, faster machines that could produce more cards daily and improve the security features of the cards.
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