Bad news for people who want to renew their driving licence cards

There is uncertainty surrounding driving licence card renewals in South Africa, as the Department of Transport (DoT) has remained tight-lipped about delays in issuing tens of thousands of cards in at least one province.

Cape Town’s MMC for safety and security, JP Smith, recently revealed that the city’s driving licence testing centres (DLTCs) had processed 60,000 card renewals since the start of the year.

However, the DLTCs had not received any cards from these applications, suggesting a major issue with the Driving Licence Card Account’s (DLCA’s) operations in Pretoria.

Given its history of breakdowns, it has been deduced that the culprit is the country’s only driving licence card printer, which is nearly three decades old.

“It is our understanding that the machine used in the production of the cards broke down yet again — and since repairs can only happen abroad, it is anyone’s guess as to when the situation will be remedied,” Smith complained.

The machine has caused delays in driving licence card issuances on several occasions in recent years, with 159 breakdowns by early 2024.

The most severe recent malfunction in late 2021 lasted over two months and worsened a Covid-induced backlog, leading to a peak of 1.3 million cards being delayed.

That issue required shipping the machine or some of its parts to Germany, as there was no local expertise or tools to fix the problem.

Another possibility is that DLCA workers have gone on strike, impacting card output volumes.

In early March 2025, staff threatened to down tools if the DLCA did not appoint them permanently and provide full benefits.

“DoT kept on giving us false promises. The director general will come and go. Director generals and chief financial officers would be changed. There’s nothing they’re not changing,” one worker told eNCA.

“There are staff members that left, went home on retirement and got nothing. No UIF, nothing. I don’t think it’s fair.”

“The South African public will not receive any licence cards, and we definitely don’t want to do that.”

Transport department spokesperson Collen Msibi said the DoT could not afford any strike action.

“If they were to down tools, it would be a crisis for us.” Hence, we’re saying it’s important for the department to move as speedily as possible,” said Msibi.”

MyBroadband asked the DoT, Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), and DLCA about the reasons for cards not being sent to Cape Town DLTCs, but none of the entities had provided feedback by the time of publication.

It is unclear whether motorists affected by the delays will be punished for a situation out of their control if the issue persists.

The department advises that the typical waiting time for a new driving licence card is four to six weeks.

A driving licence card remains valid for three months after its expiry, if the holder applied for a renewal before that date.

With the previous severe backlog, the department initially instructed traffic officials not to fine motorists if they could produce proof of application for a licence card as the issue lasted well over six months.

However, it later recommended that drivers take out temporary driving licences at their own cost if their card had expired and had not yet been delivered.

The fee for this document varies from one municipality to the next.

In Cape Town, a temporary licence costs R45, while the City of Joburg and City of Tshwane charge R70.