Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has welcomed a Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) declaratory order that a tender for the department’s driving licence card machine is ‘irregular’ and ‘unlawful.’
The department said in a statement on Wednesday that Creecy and her deputy,
Mkhuleko Hlengwa, welcomed the ruling that sets aside the appointment of Idemia as a preferred bidder for the tender.
In its January 6 ruling, the court declared that the tender was ‘irregular, invalid, unlawful and unenforceable’ and ordered the department to re-advertise it within 30 days.
“Pending the appointment of a successful service provider under the re-advertised tender, the department has also been allowed by the court to outsource the services of printing and issuing of driving licence (cards) to the Department of Home Affairs,” the department said.
The declaratory order comes after the department filed a court application following the Auditor General’s findings that there had been irregularities in the tender process.
Creecy said the court outcome was a vindication of the department’s commitment to the transparency and legitimacy of tender processes with the decision to approach the court for guidance on the matter as a necessary step for effective regulation.
Meanwhile, on December 9 the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) agency cleared the backlog of driving licence cards that were outstanding for printing following the breakdown of the printing machine from February to May 2025.
As a result, from May 8 to December 8, 2025, 2 239 456 driving licence cards were printed by the DLCA.
The State Security Agency has approved the prototype driving licence card designed by the Government Printing Works (GPW). The establishment of the network connection between the Road Traffic Management Corporation and GPW was successfully tested. This will allow the transfer of data/files required by GPW to print the driving licence cards.
A Cabinet process will soon be undertaken to seek approval of the prototype card design.
