South Africa’s lone driver’s‑licence‑card printer is groaning under a backlog of roughly 690 000 cards. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy’s department insists it can wipe the slate clean “within four to six months”. Yet simple arithmetic tells another story: between 15 May and 13 June the plant produced only about 43 000 cards — barely 2 400 a day. At that pace, motorists will wait closer to 13 months for the queue to disappear, more than double the official estimate. (topauto.co.za)
OUTA’s quick, low‑cost fix
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the civil‑society watchdog Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), argues that the most painless way to slash the backlog is not another blitz of overtime, but a pen‑stroke: extend the validity of driver’s‑licence cards from five to ten years. Most countries already issue longer‑lasting cards, and stretching South Africa’s term would instantly halve demand for renewals, easing pressure on the embattled printing line. (mybroadband.co.za)
Duvenage has tabled two further stop‑gap measures:
- Let motorists drive without a temporary licence once they can prove they have applied for renewal, sparing them extra fees created by the state’s own delays.
- Finalise a transparent tender for new card printers, with civil‑society oversight, to ensure the next procurement does not repeat the missteps that sank the last attempt. (mybroadband.co.za)
How one machine swallowed R16 million
South Africa’s single card printer, installed in 1998, has now broken down 160 times. Since April 2022 alone it has been out of action for 129 working days and devoured R16.5 million in repairs and overtime pay:
| Financial year | Down‑time (days) | Repairs & maintenance | Overtime | Total extra cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 26 | R 9 267 862 | R 1 435 377 | R 10 703 239 |
| 2023/24 | 48 | R 1 651 773 | R 1 608 103 | R 3 259 875 |
| 2024/25 | 17 | R 544 748 | R 1 351 474 | R 1 896 221 |
| 2025/26* | 38 | R 624 988 | R 0 | R 624 988 |
*Current year to 13 June 2025. (mybroadband.co.za)
A 2022 Road Traffic Management Corporation report warned that the machine should have been retired as early as 2009, but no replacement has yet made it through the tender maze. (topauto.co.za)
Every breakdown triggers a scramble of overtime shifts to catch up, driving labour costs sky‑high. Meanwhile, ordinary drivers fork out for temporary licences or simply sit at home, unable to collect the cards they need to earn a living.
The road not taken
Extending the card’s lifespan, issuing an amnesty for applicants, and procuring modern printers under transparent rules would cost next to nothing compared with the R16 million already spent nursing a 27‑year‑old press back to life. Yet, for now, motorists must brace for waits that will likely push well into 2026 unless the Department of Transport embraces OUTA’s common‑sense proposals.
Until Pretoria stops clinging to a five‑year renewal cycle and a single ailing printer, the driver’s‑licence backlog will remain a slow‑moving traffic jam — one that no amount of overtime can clear alone.
Related article: South Africa’s Driver’s Licence Machine Fixed, But Another Problem Remains
