South Africa’s new driving licence cards have missed their expected launch dates multiple times—and while a new minister of the transport department has been welcomed, there are concerns it might further delay the process.
The transport department frequently misses its own deadlines to replace old driving licence cards in South Africa with new ‘smart’ cards. It has also resisted moves to extend the validity of the cards from five to eight years.
This has resulted in very confused and contradictory messages and policy directions from the department, which has seen 11 ministers take the helm over the last 20 years, each with their own take on the way forward.
Stakeholders are now worried that there will be further delays and confusion as the latest transport minister, Sindisiwe Chikunga, has been replaced, bringing in yet another minister.
Barbara Creecy was appointed Minister of Transport on 30 June 2024 as part of the 7th administration, following her tenure as the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment from 30 May 2019 to 19 June 2024.
She has had a solid track record in her old portfolio, and organisations have described her as sticking to her promises and following facts and data in making decisions. This approach could prove to be a big positive for the transport portfolio.
However, Creecy will still need to sort through what has been left behind in Chikunga’s (and her predecessor Fikile Mbalula’s) wake—including the confused messaging around the new licence cards and abandoned policy.
New transport minister, Barbara Creecy
The Automobile Association (AA) said that the new minister should give serious attention to measures to improve traffic law enforcement.
It added that a priority should also be to effectively address issues at driving license testing centres, including those related to the provision of driving license cards.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomed the change in leadership at the Department of Transport, noting that the ministry has experienced significant turmoil over the past decade, with seven ministers in the last 15 years, and 11 in the past 20.
OUTA expressed dissatisfaction with Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga’s performance as deputy minister and then minister over the past five years, citing growing inefficiencies across the department.
OUTA said it hopes the new minister will address the department’s deficiencies and areas of concern and engage with civil society.
These are the key driving licence issues that need to be addressed:
New card machines
During a press briefing on the shutdown of e-tolls in Gauteng on April 10, 2024, former minister Chikunga stated that her department was in the final stages of procuring a machine to print the new ‘smart’ driving licence cards.
Chikunga mentioned at the time that the team had just travelled to France to inspect the machine.
She also assured that new driving license cards would be printed by the end of April and that the first 100 cards would be launched in each province.
This timeline for an end-of-April launch was already much later than what the previous minister, Mbalula, had promised for a pilot of the new cards from November 2023 to March 2024.
The plan was to decommission the old printer and license card by 31 March 2024. The old cards’ last expiry date would have been 31 March 2029.
South Africa decided to upgrade its driver’s licenses due to the cards being in operation for 26 years and the need for new security features to combat crime and fraudulent copies.
Cabinet approved the production of a new driving license card for the country on 30th August 2022. The department then started the process of finding a service provider, which was initially unsuccessful.
They re-advertised the bid on 5 April 2023, and after the bid closed on 5 May 2024, the department was still considering it due to its technical complexity.
In June 2024, the Department of Transport confirmed that it had missed its targeted launch of new ‘smart’ driving licence cards for South Africa, and it had not yet chosen a service provider for the cards.
The department would not commit to any new deadlines, effectively saying that it would be ready when it was ready.
Licence validity
Another ‘project’ the transport department committed to was aligning driving licence card validity periods with international standards, as South Africa’s five-year term was considered too short compared to other countries.
However, as confirmed by both Chikunga and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Makhosini Msibi in June, the proposal to extend the validity period to eight years was not presented to the cabinet for approval.
Msibi stated that the current situation in South Africa requires a specific focus on the health of drivers, including an eye test to ensure their vision meets the required standards, and that “it is crucial that we maintain the current validity period until these issues are addressed.”
He also confirmed that the validity period for driving licenses will continue to be five years for the foreseeable future.
Critics have hit back at this reasoning, claiming that it is more likely that the validity period would be kept at five years to ensure revenue from renewals keeps flowing in at more regular intervals.
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