New driving licence card to be piloted next year

Cabinet has approved the replacement of current driving licence cards to ones they say have “more secure design features”.

The system the current cards are on has been in operation since 1998.

“The new proposed card will make the country’s driving licence compatible with the International Information Technology Personal Identification Compliant Driving Licence (ISO18013),” Cabinet said.

Along with more secure features, the current infrastructure supporting the technology the cards currently operate on is becoming expensive to maintain.

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This follows transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s announcement in February of the department’s plans to phase in a new driving licence card from October next year.

The current cards will be phased out over five years.

There is also a possibility that government could extend the renewal period of driver’s licence cards from five to ten years.

The potential renewal extension period is a far cry from what Mbalula said last month.

According to civil rights organisation AfriForum, Mbalula said in court records the ten-year renewal period could not be accommodated because the material of the cards would start degrading.

His reasoning was subsequently slammed by AfriForum.

“The court record shows that it is an entirely inadequate and irrational explanation to prescribe the five-year renewal period simply because the material of the driver’s license cards allegedly cannot last longer,” said Reiner Duvenage, AfriForum’s Campaign Officer: Strategy and Content.

In November last year, the only machine that produces driving licence cards broke down.

Able to produce around 300 000 cards each month, the machine being out of service meant a massive driving licence card backlog.

The Covid-19 pandemic and early lockdowns also resulted in many motorists not renewing their licences.

Additional reporting by Gareth Cotterell and Moneyweb.