Extended working hours for driver license printing because of backlog

The National Transport Department says working hours at the Driving License Card Agency will be extended in an attempt to reduce the printing backlog of driving license cards.

This after the department confirmed that the machine has been fixed and operations have resumed.

It had been out of operation since February and led to a printing backlog of over 740 000 cards.

The department’s spokesperson, Collen Msibi says the process of finding a service provider to supply new machines has been stalled due to irregularities found by the Auditor-General.

“There was a service provider which was appointed but unfortunately with the Auditor-General having to audit the processes that were followed, it was found that there’s irregularities that happened. So, it is because of the audit process that took place, so a decision had to be made. As you know, the SA culture, the moment you go ahead with the appointment of the service provider under a cloud like that, then it becomes an issue why proceed with the appointment when you know there’s an issue with the audit. So, we’ve had to make a decision which the minister did to say let’s go to court for a declaratory order so that the court decides whether we go ahead with that service provider or not,”