Demonstration of licence card printer highlights South Africa's printing backlog

Popular lobby group AfriForum on Tuesday demonstrated a fully functioning licence card printer on the doorstep of the Department of Transport’s head offices in Pretoria.

The group said this is as frustrations mounting over the long wait for printed license cards, and to also show the government that South Africa does not need to depend on other countries for a machine.

"This action was aimed at pointing out to the department that various options are already available locally that meet all the security features of licence cards in order to eliminate the serious backlog," AfriForum spokesperson, Louis Boshoff said.

"The sample licence cards that AfriForum printed and demonstrated are made of polyvinyl chloride, similar to existing ID cards, and feature the face of the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy".

South Africa is faced with a heavy driving licence card backlog, which emanates from having one printing machine that broke down for over three months in early 2025, between April, May and June leading to a peak backlog of over 747,000 unissued cards.

The machine was back in operation and has helped reduce the backlog to 500,000 over the last two months; however, there were still ongoing issues regarding the procurement of a replacement machine.

"The delay in clearing the backlog and acquiring new printers is unnecessary," Boshoff said.

"The department clearly does not have the will to eliminate the problems regarding the printing of licence cards despite the fact that there are several local service providers available who have the necessary technology to do the printing.”

Boshoff cited that there are several possible printer and card types, with different and sufficient security features, that could be considered for South Africa’s future driver’s licences saying that complex requirements regarding the printer or card type should not prevent the department from finding a solution as soon as possible.

“The backlog in printing driver’s licence cards currently stands at approximately 500,000, which means that approximately half a million drivers are at present without valid licence cards," Boshoff said.

"It appears that the government, for political reasons, prefers to drag out the procurement process at the expense of service delivery and does not even consider workable options in the interest of that."

The Star spoke to motorists who shared similar sentiments to those of Boshoff.

Ivan Daniels, 23, said: "It is honestly frustrating that we have to wait this long for the cards, especially because the guys on the road (the police and the traffic police) are not always understanding when you present an expired card or the temporary one after it expires."

Mandla Nyembezi said: "I renewed my card around February/ March, and I only received it now in August. Imagine the wait and the burden of having to carry the temporary license, that thing is big and boring man, it does not fit in the pocket."

The Star