THE Department of Transport (DoT) and its entities have been slammed over a lack of transparency regarding new driving licences, fees and pricing, as well as the validity of the current licence cards.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said it was concerned that the secrecy was hiding problematic activities by the department, Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA).
The organisation’s executive director, Advocate Stefanie Fick, said Outa has for the past few years tried to engage meaningfully with these transport entities on various issues, but to no avail.
“The tender has been advertised and withdrawn repeatedly in recent years. The most recent tender was issued on 8 March, 2023 – more than a year ago – but the award is still awaited. In December 2023, the DLCA told Outa that the tender evaluation process was ‘still ongoing’. We have been unable to obtain further information.
“Outa believes the entire tender process is shrouded in uncertainty and lack of transparency. The procurement of this machine is of utmost importance to South Africa, and we believe that the department and the DCLA should be much more transparent about this process,” said Fick, adding that the organisation also wanted the validity of the driving cards to be extended from the current five years to 10 years.
Outa demanded to know the following:
- Why has the procurement of the new driving licence card machine been delayed for more than a year?
- Why has the department decided not to extend the validity of driving licences despite the cumbersome system?
- Does the card machine procurement plan rely on retaining the five-year validity period for the cards?
- Why won’t the department explain how it calculates the fees it charges for licences and how these funds are distributed?
DoT spokesperson Collen Msibi argued that the department had been transparent with the process to replace the driving licence card printing machine.
He said a bid for the procurement of the new driving licence card machine was advertised on November 10, 2022. However, this bid was unsuccessful and resulted in a re-advertisement of the bid on April 5, 2023. The organisation also wants the validity of the driving cards to be extended from the current five years to 10 years.
“The department embarked on its first attempt to source a service provider to deliver a turnkey solution. The above bid was advertised on 10 November, 2022. This bid process was unsuccessful, resulting in a re-advertisement of the bid on 5 April, 2023. Bid DLCA/2023/01: The provision of a Turnkey Solution for the Personalisation of Smart Driving Cards in South Africa was advertised in the government tender portal.”
The above bid closed on May 5, 2023, and owing to its technical complexity, this bid continues to be under consideration, which requires the department to adhere to prescribed supply chain management prescripts and regulations.
“It needs to be emphasised that with the evaluation and adjudication phase completed, the bid is undergoing standard and required departmental probity/audit processes. The department cannot finalise the bid process until these are completed,” said Msibi.
The issue surrounding the ageing licence printing machine was first highlighted towards the end of 2021 when it broke down.
It was restored early in 2022, resulting in a backlog of around 639 000 cards. This is the only machine in the country.
Fick said Outa also believed that extending the card validity would save the public money and reduce time wasted by bureaucracy which was inefficient and riddled with corruption.
Outa has called for this extension since September 2020, and bases this on research on international best practices in 32 countries, and has previously provided this research to then Minister Fikile Mbalula.
“Outa questions the motives of the RTMC as the ultimate decision to extend the validity period lies with the Minister of Transport and the minister should not be influenced by an entity with vested financial interests in the decision. In simple terms, we find these reasons advanced by the RTMC to be ludicrous,” said Fick.
Fick added that Outa wanted the RTMC to explain how the transaction fees it charged on various types of licences are calculated and how the revenue is distributed. She said the public had a right to clarity on these fees, adding that when government entities generated excessive revenue, it encouraged corruption and maladministration.
“When public bodies are accountable and transparent on how they collect and use public money, it creates a culture of confidence in government. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true that when the government is not transparent and accountable to its citizens it starts to suffer from a legitimacy crisis.”
Fick said Outa submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act request to the RTMC asking for information regarding the composition of the fees, but the entity refused. He added that the organisation is also awaiting a final decision after filing a complaint with the Information Regulator over the RTMC refusal.
Msibi said up to 2011, the provincial departments of transport determined their fees for the issuing of driving licence cards. He said this included the fee payable to the Card Production Facility to defray the cost of producing the card.
“The current fee includes the total cost of producing a card, the supply of enrolment equipment at DLTCs, and the support and maintenance of the strategic infrastructure and the enrolment equipment at DLTCs,” he said.