Mobility

1. (a) How many driver’s and learner’s licences have been printed since the breakdown of the only printing machine          

Since the Driving Licence Card Production machine was repaired, for the period 8 May to 25 August 2025, a total of 149,018 Driving Licence cards were produced.

Learner Licences were not affected by the breakdown of the driving licence card machine.  A learner licence is issued immediately to an applicant by the Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC) once the applicant has passed the learner licence test and the results are captured on NaTIS.

(b) what is the current backlog and

The current driving licence card production backlog for the Western Cape is 57 808 cards.

(c) (i) what is the current average turnaround time now that the machine is functioning again, 

All the DLTC’s in the province are regularly receiving DL Cards as they are produced. The average turnaround time is between 4 to 6 weeks.

(ii) which regions remain most affected and

All the regions are affected and there is no specific region that has more challenges. The average production at this stage across all regions is at 87,4%

(iii) what steps are being taken to address these delays;

Since 12 August 2025, the DLCA has implemented a 24-hour shift to deal with the production backlog.

(2)   whether his Department has engaged the national Minister regarding the procurement of a replacement printing machine; if so, what progress has been made?

The Department has engaged the national Minister on the matter and has unfortunately not received a response yet.