Johannesburg - The driving licence card production machine is back in full production.
According to the Department of Transport, the machine was taken out of production for three weeks in order to replace a broken part identified during routine maintenance.
"The testing of the machine after the part replacement took another two weeks before it was certified to go back to full production. This will see an increase in production from the 60 000 cards produced over the past three weeks during the testing period to about 120 000 cards per week," said the department.
Earlier this month, AfriForum wrote to Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga regarding the broken licence printing machine.
Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum, Ernst van Zyl, said that not only was the government unable to provide the basic service of licence renewal, it also appeared to either not have the ability or desire to keep the public informed on the status of the problems it caused.
"AfriForum’s more than 310 000 members, as well as the public at large, deserve answers and clarity when it comes to this critical service the government is supposed to provide without complications or serious delays," said the organisation.
The department said the machine had printed an average of 2 850 000 cards per year in the past two financial years. Since its commissioning in 1998, it had printed more than 60 million driving licence cards.
It further said the backlog was currently at 350 000 cards for the past five weeks. Backlogs were dependent on the number of orders received.
"There is currently a catch-up plan to address the backlog, which will be cleared by the end of August."
"The department is currently working on a process to introduce a new driving licence card as approved by Cabinet in August 2022," added the department.
The new card will be launched before the end of the current financial year. It will also bring with it new card production machines to replace the current machine.
Earlier this year, the machine broke down for a second time.
The spokesperson for the national Department of Transport, Collen Msibi, said the machine broke down after undergoing routine maintenance last month.
In October, the then Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, said South Africa’s last functioning printing machine for driving licences was back in service, and the race was on to clear the backlog.
The Star