The Party said the process needs to be accelerated further to avoid more backlogs and the risk of drivers not being able to renew their cards and getting fined.

This week, the Eastern Cape’s acting director of transportation management, Xolisa Jakula, told MyBroadBand that the machine had been idle for more than two weeks.

Jakula added that there is an indication that processes are underway to ensure it will be back up and running by the end of this week.

DA said that when the machine was decommissioned in November 2021, it took two months to get ready, generating more than 380,000 unissued licenses.

“As it stands, the national license card machine is obsolete and appears to be the only one left of its kind.”

Earlier this year, Mbalula said he would introduce a new type of slot machine comparable to the rest of the developed world and a new driver’s license card in October 2023.

In September The Cabinet has approved the replacement of the current driver’s license card with another card that has safer design features and meets international standards.

DA believes that in order to reduce the risk of having to depend on a single apparatus and personnel to serve the whole country, provinces should manage and manage applications and issue new cards.

The eNatis system will coordinate information at the national level on a central database system, but nomination, application and release should be decentralized, the party said.

Speaking about the new card design, Mbalula said that the current driver’s license card was introduced in 1998 and production equipment was purchased in the same year. Technology has become obsolete,” he said.

Mbalula said his department will publish the changes to the driver’s license card in an official journal. He added that a new procurement process for updated manufacturing infrastructure will begin in November.

Extension

Civil society groups such as the Automobile Association (AA) and Undo Abuse Tax Office (Outa) has called for renewal of driver’s license cards to be renewed every 10 years, not every five years.

Earlier this year, Mbalula said the Road Traffic Management Corporation would prepare a report on the proposal.

The Report appears to be complete, and the minister is ready to approach parliament with proposals to amend the provisions; however, no further details were provided.

“I’ve got the report now, and I’m ready to go to cabinet with new proposals to probably re-look at the five years in terms of the driver’s licence,” the minister said in August.

Proposals made by civil society groups include:

• That an extension for driver’s license renewal be applied from 5 to 10 years;

• The extension from 5 to 10 years applies between the ages of 18 to 65 years;

• That more efficient online application processes for DL renewals precede the actual renewal to allow for more effective service delivery and flow between appointment, eye test and licence delivery;

• Multiple methods for DL renewal are made available through test centres and reputable service providers, i.e. stronger collaboration with neutral, third-party organizations such as the AA;

• That current restrictions applicable to Professional Driver’s Permits either remain the same, or are possibly extended as well, but that this decision be based on more extensive research and the inclusion of input from bussing and tourism role players.

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DoT response:

An update on the status of the machine was provided on Thursday (20 October), pointing to load shedding and routine maintenance as the cause for its shutdown.

In a statement, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said that the machine is operating at full steam and that the backlog has been cleared.

Mbalula noted, however, that as the machine continues operations, “glitches might be experienced at some point.”