If you are looking for an example of the sort of damage that “cadre cronyism” – as developed into a fine art by the ANC since 1994 – then you could find no better example than our driving licence card system.
We only have one machine in the entire country which is capable of printing the cards. And that machine has broken down again – after a similar catastrophic failure earlier this year. The fact that the parts and expertise to fix the machine are only available in Germany means the backlog of millions of driving licence cards has yet again ballooned.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula tweeted on Wednesday that the machine is back on online, having been out of service for two weeks. The backlog will be swiftly dealt with, he promised. But, this being Mbalula, we would take this with a pinch of salt.
ALSO READ: Wait for driving licences may be prolonged after printing machine breaks – again
The tragic aspect of this whole debacle is that the current technology was already out of date when it was implemented almost 25 years ago. As far back as the mid-1990s, consultants for the department of transport were working on a credit card licence system which would eventually have an embedded chip, much like our current banking, credit and debit cards.
Fully developed and implemented, the cards would have linked directly to a planned vast transport data base – which eventually became eNatis – and, in turn, to other government data bases, including that of Sars.
ALSO READ: New driving licence card to be piloted next year
The project would have fast-tracked South Africa into a leader in the true Fourth Industrial Revolution. Instead, along came ANC backer and friend Schabir Shaik who, after a quick chat with his mate, then transport minister Mac Maharaj, got the contract for the Third World licences we now have.
This one example shows how the ANC is the gift which keeps on taking – from ordinary people.
