Mobility
- (a) What engagements has his Department had with the national Department of Transport regarding the ongoing breakdown of the only machine responsible for printing driver’s licences and vehicle licence cards in the country, (b) what contingency measures or alternative interventions has his Department implemented to mitigate the impact of the broken licencing machine on service delivery in the province, particularly regarding the issuing of temporary licences or alternative documentation;
- whether his Department can provide the following statistics: from the date of the machine breakdown to the latest date for which information is available, (a) the number of pending applications for (i) driver’s licences and (ii) vehicle licence cards in the province, (b) the size and growth of the backlog caused by the printing delays, (c) the number of (i) temporary driver’s and (ii) temporary vehicle licences issued and (d) the average turnaround time for applicants to receive these temporary licences?
- (a) The department attends weekly War Room meetings with the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) and National Department of Transport (DOT). The DLCA is the entity of DOT responsible for producing the driving licence cards when applications are received from the Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs). When informed of the breakdown of the machine in January 2025, the department requested that the national Minister issues a media statement to inform the public.
On 28 March 2025 the department attended a Special Inter-Provincial Policies and Procedures (IPPP) meeting and proposed that the Minister of Transport either publish a Regulation to extend the validity of the expired driving licences of licence holders who already renewed, and/or also extend the validity of the Temporary Driving Licence (TDL) to 12 months instead of 6 months.
- As it stands, we are awaiting feedback from the DOT on the proposals made in the meeting of 28 March 2025. A contingency measure is for the applicant to apply and be issued with a TDL.
- (a) (i)The number of pending applications for driving licence cards is 106 910.
(ii)It is important to note the difference between driving licence cards and motor vehicle licences. The broken machine only affects the production of driving licence cards for drivers, and not the production of motor vehicle licence discs displayed on vehicles. These are managed through separate systems.
- 106 910 driving licence cards are awaited.
- (i)71185 TDLs were issued.
(ii)The machine in question relates to driving licence cards and has no bearing on motor vehicle licences. Therefore, the response to question 2a (ii) remains in place in this regard.
- A Temporary Driving Licence is immediately issued by a DLTC on application, as soon as an individual has passed their relevant Driving Licence test.
