DURBAN – Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, is expected to present a new driver’s licence card machine for approval to the Cabinet.
The department is grappling with a massive backlog of over 400 000 applications and cannot issue any new driver’s licences as the printing machine is broken.
Mbalula confirmed that the machine is undergoing repairs in Germany.
He said the machine is old and outdated.
“The machine from Germany that produces driver’s licences is old. No other country in the world is still using that machine. It’s going to be a new machine that is going to be on par with the developed world,” he said.
The minister said his department is introducing a new card machine that won’t need to go to Germany to be fixed.
“Once Cabinet approves that, new machines are going to come,” he said.
He said the breakdown of the current card machine occurred before plans could be set in place to replace it, causing a massive backlog.
“Whilst we were doing away with that machine, it had an accident and the machine had to be taken away to be repaired in Germany. It is being fixed as we speak. We have already taken it to Germany but in the interim, we will introduce new measures on what will happen,” he said.