How long it could really take to clear South Africa’s licence backlog

According to a recent analysis by MyBroadband, at current production rates it will take over 11 months for South Africa to clear the backlog of expired driving licence cards that have piled up.

• This is five months longer than transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s September 2022 date
• The backlog is due to Covid-19 lockdowns, an expiry extension date and the breakdown of South Africa’s only driving licence card printer in November
• Estimates show that 2.9-million cards must be printed by September 2022
• The backlog at 1 February was 2.1-million
• This increases by an average of 100 000 per month
• Only 128 000 cards have been printed after the driving licence card printing machine was repaired in Germany
• The current production rate works out to approximately 260,000 new cards a month – just over half of the 400 000 needed per month to clear the backlog by September
• At current production, it will take well over 11 months to clear the backlog