South African motorists can finally breathe a little easier, as the days of relying on a single, decades-old driver’s licence card printer are almost over.

According to Mybroadband, the Department of Transport has confirmed that a backup printing system will soon be in place.

This will greatly reduce the risk of massive backlogs, which occur whenever the current machine breaks down.

Another licence card printing machine for SA

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy announced the breakthrough in her July 2025 budget vote speech, revealing that the department had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government Printing Works to establish a backup solution.

This secondary system is expected to be operational within three months, around October 2025.

The existing printer, run by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), has been under constant strain, producing between 10 500 and 11 000 new cards per day.

Even under normal conditions, this workload forces staff to work overtime just to keep up with demand. Without extra hours, the driver’s licence card backlog could swell by over 100 000 cards each month.

The stakes became painfully clear earlier in 2025, when a three-month breakdown of the sole 26-year-old printer pushed the backlog to 746 748 cards.

Turnaround times for new licences stretched to around two months. By 11 August 2025, the backlog had dropped to 539 947, a 38% improvement, but still far from ideal.

Creecy said that the backup driver’s licence card printer would keep production running even if the main machine fails, preventing the kind of crippling delays seen earlier this year.

It’s a move many in civil society have been calling for, and a much-needed sign that the country’s driver’s licence card system is finally getting the upgrade it needs.

How long did you have to wait for your card?

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