South Africa’s new driver’s licence cards up in the air

The Pretoria High Court has not yet set a court date for the transport department’s legal challenge against the tender process of the new licence card printing machine contract.

This case was filed against the tender awarded to the French firm Idemia by its Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) division in the Pretoria High Court in July 2025.

The department indicates that it wants the court to nullify the contract due to a number of issues that were found in the tender awarding process – these were identified by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA).

Idemia was originally awarded the tender after several years of uncertainty, with multiple publications and withdrawals of the tender, in August 2024.

However, following Idemia’s winning of the tender, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) met with the transport minister, Barbara Creecy, to point out several issues with the procurement process.

In September 2024, Creecy then ordered the Auditor-General of South Africa to expand the extent of the investigation into the tender process based on Outa’s allegations.

These allegations include issues such as that the tender had grown from an initial Cabinet-approved budget of R486 million to R899 million.

The tender adjudication process was also flawed, relying on outdated pricing, omission of printing material costs, and errors in evaluation scoring and machine assessments.

Transport department spokesperson Collen Msibi said the department had not indicated whether Idemia intended to oppose its application.

Printing and expiry dates

While the matter of the tender is dealt with, the department has requested that the court make a ruling allowing Home Affairs to print licence cards in the interim.

This is because the Government Printing Works (GPW) already produces the country’s polycarbonate smart ID card, which is similar to the specifications of the envisioned new licence cards.

To that end, the department recently announced a memorandum of understanding with the GPW to provide a backup printing solution should the current machine break down again.

This has led to questions over whether the GPW should just become the permitted licence card producer, given the extreme technical difficulties the department has encountered over the last few years.

Another means of addressing the problems is extending the validity period of licence cards to eight years.

This was first suggested under former transport minister Fikile Mbalula, who explained that a limitation of this plan was concerns that the laminated cards wouldn’t last longer than five years.

However, Sindisiwe Chikunga, his successor, backtracked on this plan based on an independent report compiled on behalf of the Road Traffic Management Corporation.

This was justified by arguments that the more frequent testing ensured drivers’ eyesight was tested regularly enough to avoid accidents caused by poor vision.

Critics such as Driving.co.za’s Rob Handfield-Jones have also noted that the department’s reluctance to extend the card validity period is all down to making money rather than out of a concern for safety.