Despite Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula‘s gleeful tweet yesterday – “The Machine is up and running, the recent power cuts have an impact on it. It’s rolling” – motorists should brace themselves for more problems with the driving licence renewal saga.
Department of transport is not competent
A public transport expert and civil action groups say the department of transport’s (DT) silence was not only concerning but also a sign of inefficiency and incompetence.
The DT could not confirm Mbalula’s tweet yesterday, and given Eskom’s propensity for being more off than on, Mbalula’s blaming power cuts is ominous.
Backlog of unrenewed licences
The national key point facility and 20-year-old driving licence card machine which broke down in November 2021 – resulting in a substantial backlog of around 383 000 unrenewed licences less than a month later – broke down again on 15 September after it was allegedly fixed earlier this year.
Three months needed to fix the machine
Expert in transport planning and engineering Prof Marianne Vanderschuren of the University of Cape Town said with almost three months needed to fix the machine and two weeks since the machine broke down, motorists were in for a repeat of the previous backlog and frustration.
“Why should South Africa be relying on one machine and be so vulnerable to this type of problems and delays? We clearly need to have a solution. Whichever solution that is much more resilient and not rely on just one machine like we have been for years with lack of a backup plan.”
During his press event on 3 February, Mbalula said it took 83 days to repair and get the machine operating again.
Outa slams the department’s failure to purchase new machine
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (Outa) previously slammed the DT’s failure to buy a new card machine, even after generating a surplus of more than R400 million from renewals over the last nine years.
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said the real concern was the Driver’s Licence Card Account budget for three years which included a replacement machine, after the DT acknowledged in March 2021 it was run-down and needed to be replaced.
“It’s just a never-ending saga. They don’t get around to putting the new machine in, which has the new security protocols built into it,” he said.
After many attempts, the Road Traffic Management Corporation and the DT did not respond to requests for comment.
However, DT spokesperson Lwazi Khoza said Mbalula would conduct an oversight visit tomorrow.
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