Transparency concerns arise over new driving licence card machine tender

Serious concern has been expressed by civil society organisations about the complete lack of transparency by the Department of Transport regarding the procurement process for the acquisition of a machine to produce the new smart card driving licences.

This follows Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga twice in the past two months indicating the department is at “the tail end” of the appointment of the supplier of the new machine.

Cabinet in August 2022 approved the introduction of a new smart card driving licence in South Africa.

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A tender process was undertaken after cabinet approval was received, but resulted in “a no award”.

The tender was readvertised and closed in May 2023.

The new driving licence card was anticipated to be launched before the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

Procurement process ‘takes its own time’

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO Makhosini Msibi confirmed to Moneyweb last month that the new tender for the procurement of the machine to produce the new licences had been evaluated and was “in the process of being awarded” and “at the final stage”.

Msibi said the process to award the tender involved evaluating and adjudicating the bids received before a recommendation was presented to the director-general of the Department of Transport for approval before the award was announced by the minister of transport.

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In an exclusive interview with Moneyweb last month, Chikunga said there was a proper procurement process to acquire the new machine but stressed it was “a long time ago and we are at the tail end of the appointment”.

“In fact they had to go to countries that had tendered. They went there to look at what they said they had,” she said.

Chikunga said in response to a question about the new driving licence at a media briefing in April, on the eve of the scrapping of e-tolls, that the department would print and launch the first 100 new driving licence cards per province by the end of April 2024.

This has not yet happened.

Chikunga told Moneyweb last month that: “The procurement process takes its own time sometimes, particularly because they had to go to France to look at what they said they had and other countries as well to look at what they had.”

No trace of tender advert

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said he had a meeting with the director-general of transport last year about a number of issues and, at the time, specifically requested that Outa “be kept in the loop” about when this tender was published and its specifications.

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“We said we would like to monitor this process, and he [the director-general] said yes, we will be [kept in the loop], but we heard nothing.”

Both Duvenage and Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard said they have been unable to trace any advertisement for this procurement process.

Duvenage said the lack of transparency by the Department of Transport about this procurement process “is worrying, very worrying”.

“When they continue to not provide clarity on this, then something stinks. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.

“This lack of clarity does not do them [the department] any favours in convincing us that they are following due process,” he said.

Duvenage added that Outa would expect the minister and the department to be very clear and careful to ensure that there is clarity about the procurement process, the best price is obtained, and no irregularities take place.

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“But when you hear about all this happening, you lose faith and don’t get the impression that is going to be the case,” he said.

Beard stressed that South Africans have a right to know who was involved in the procurement process, who won the contract, and how much it will cost.

Unanswered questions

A list of questions about the procurement process was emailed to the RTMC, but it indicated that the list should be directed to the Department of Transport.

The list was emailed to the Department of Transport on 21 May, with a reminder emailed on 28 May, but a response has not been received.

The questions posed to the department by Moneyweb included:

• Where and when was the advertisement published of the tender/request for proposals for the procurement of the new machine to produce the new driver’s licence card and can you provide us with a copy of this advertisement?
• What was the closing date for the submission of the tenders/proposals for the new driver’s licence card?
• How many bids were submitted for this tender/request for proposals by the closing date?
• Were the various bids received for this tender/request for proposals opened in public after the closure of the tender?
• Can you provide us with a list of the names of all the bidders and the value of their bids for this tender/request for proposals?

The multi-million-rand contract award for South Africa’s first credit card-type driving licence card was mired in controversy.

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It was awarded in 1997 to Prodiba, a consortium that had links to Schabir Shaik, the controversial former financial advisor to former president Jacob Zuma, and to French company Thomson CSF, which was subsequently renamed Thales and is implicated in the allegedly corrupt Arms Deal.

Chikunga has confirmed that the Department of Transport will acquire only one new machine to produce the new driving licence cards.

This is despite the current machine breaking down towards the end of 2021, causing a delay in motorists receiving their new driving licences and a backlog in the production of driving licence cards.

Chikunga said the Department of Transport needs a main machine “that is going to work and a guarantee”, and then they could possibly acquire a second machine “because it’s very costly”.

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It is unclear how many driving licence cards the new machine will be able to produce in a month or a year.

Beard said it is a big risk for the department to acquire only one machine to produce the cards because any malfunction would have severe consequences, particularly for drivers who rely on their driving licences for employment.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here