Drakenstein Municipality this week said to date not a single driving licence card and Public Driving Permits (PrDPs) has been issued by Pretoria out of all approximately 6 900 applications it received since the beginning of the year.
This comes after the Department of Transport (DoT) confirmed that the country’s only driving licence card printer has been broken down since February 2025 and may take several more weeks to repair.
In a statement released on Tursday (30 April) it said such applications are processed by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) in Pretoria – a national entity that produces these driving licence cards for the whole country.
“It is our understanding that the machine used in the production of the cards broke down.
“We are not sure when the situation will be remedied.”
At the same time the City of Cape Town also recently complained that it had not received a single licence card for applications by its residents since the start of the year.
According to MyBroadband the Department of Transport (DoT) confirmed that the country’s only driving licence card printer has been broken down since February 2025 and may take several more weeks to repair.
DoT spokesperson Collen Msibi confirmed these details in recent feedback to MyBroadband.
“The Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) is liaising with the sole supplier in France to repair equipment that has malfunctioned and resulted in the machine breakdown,” Msibi said.
“The Department is exploring various interim solutions to sustain the operations of the current machine, given its age.”
According to Msibi the repair could be done in two weeks.
Drakenstein Municipality reminded motorists that in terms of the National Road Traffic Act, an expired driving licence card will remain valid for a period of three months from the date of expiry, if a renewal application was made before the expiry date.
“The condition for this is that the holder of the licence must be in possession of the expired card and proof of payment.
“If the situation is not resolved within the three months, an application can be made for a temporary licence, which is valid for six months, or until the new/replacement driving licence card is issued.
“The renewal of a driving licence card AFTER its expiry date will automatically require a temporary licence, which costs R45.
“This does not apply to new drivers, who are issued with a temporary licence on successfully completing their licence test,” the municipality explained.
The municipality has apologised for any inconvenience and says it will communicate any further developments.
