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IOL News
09-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Concerns over government spending on outdated driving licence printing machine
Government continues to spend millions repairing and maintaining its only driving licence card printing machine. Image: SUPPLIED The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said it is concerned at how the government continues to spend millions of Rands maintaining its only driving licence card printing machine and the costs to catch up with backlogs. The organisation said this is concerning because the government has been talking obtaining about a new licence card machine for the past 10 years. This was after Transport Minister, Barbara Creecy, revealed that the machine had been out of service for 38 days since April 1, resulting in a backlog of 733,000 licence cards. Creecy disclosed this in response to a written parliamentary question from Rise Mzansi leader, Songezo Zibi. Zibi asked how many times the machine had broken down in the past three financial years, including since the start of the 2025/26 financial year. He also wanted to know how much had been spent on repairs during this period and how much overtime had been paid to employees due to lost printing time as a result of the breakdowns. Creecy revealed that the machine was broken for 26 days in the 2022/23 financial year. In 2023/24 it was broken for 48 days. It was also broken for 17 days in 2024/25. The department paid R9,267,862 for the repair and maintenance in 2022/23. It paid R1,651,772 in 2023/24, R544,747 in 2024/25, and R624,988 so far, totaling R12,089,370,64. The department also had to fork out R4.4 million for overtime payments between the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years. Creecy said it takes four people to operate the machine. She said she has directed that a declaratory order be sought from a competent court on the tender to acquire a new machine, in order to ensure that no further irregular expenditure occurs. In March, Creecy announced that she had instructed her department to lodge a High Court application for a declaratory order regarding the licence machine tender -awarded to Idemia and Security South Africa. Her decision was influenced by the findings from the Auditor-General (AG) report, which identified instances of non-compliance with the required procurement procedures. Outa's chief executive officer, Wayne Duvenage, said the organisation was also concerned by the length of time it takes for the department to get the court to nullify the contract - riddled with irregularities and potential corruption. 'Why does it take so long to get this process done?' he asked. 'Lots of money spent on maintaining and overtime costs to catch up with backlogs. This is very concerning. The government has been talking about a new driving licence card machine for about 10 years now, with multiple tenders awarded and cancelled for the past 5 years and still, we are nowhere near resolving this issue. Incompetence and political interference at its best,' Duvenage said. Department of Transport spokesperson, Collen Msibi did not respond to a request for comment.
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Driving licence printing machine fixed but huge backlogs remain
The Department of Transport has repaired the driving licence card printing machine after months of downtime, but a significant backlog of unprinted cards remains. Image: File Millions have been spent on repairing and maintaining the driving licence card printing machine. The Department of Transport announced earlier last month that the driving licence printing machine was fixed and operations have resumed. The machine had been inoperative since February 5, resulting in a backlog of 747,748 unprinted cards. To reduce the backlog, the Department of Transport's Driving Licence Card Agency extended the working hours of its staff members. In light of this, in a parliamentary question and reply, Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi asked Transport Minister Barbara Creecy about the number of times the machine broke down and how much it cost to repair it. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Zibi then asked how many employees it takes to operate the machine and how much overtime pay has been paid to employees due to lost printing time because of machine breakdowns. Zibi also asked Creecy if there was progress in acquiring a new card machine. Creecy said the backlog of driving licences as of May 15 was estimated at 733,000 cards. Creecy revealed the machine's major breakdowns in the past financial year are as follows: 2022/23 - 26 working days 2023/24 - 48 working days 2024/25 - 17 working days 2025/26 - 38 working days Over the same period, repairs and maintenance costs: 2022/23 - R9,267,862,33 2023/24 - R1,651,772,57 2024/25 - R544,747,64 2025/26 - R624,988,10 (to date) Overtime payment, over the last few financial years, has been: 2022/23 - R1,435,376,79 2023/24 - R1,608,102,52 2024/25 - R1,351,473,78 2025/26 - R0,00 Creecy said it takes four people to operate the machine. About progress made with the process to acquire a new driving licence card printing machine, Creecy said: 'The Minister has directed that a declaratory order be sought from a competent court on the tender to acquire a new machine, in order to ensure that no further irregular expenditure occurs.'
New Straits Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Palm set for first weekly gain in three as strong export data supports
JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday and were set to post their first weekly gain in three weeks as strong export data supported the contract despite weakness in vegetable oils in the Chicago and Dalian commodity exchanges. The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 6 ringgit or 0.16 per cent to RM3,862 (US$905.30) a metric ton by the midday break. The contract has gained 1.26 per cent for the week. "Good export figure for May 1-15 period lent some support," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for May 1 - 15 estimated rose between 6.6 per cent and 14.2 per cent, according to independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia and cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract was down 0.84 per cent, while its palm oil contract for June delivery dropped 0.91 per cent. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) tumbled 1.7 per cent. Palm oil tracks prices of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Oil prices edged up on Friday following a sharp drop in the previous session, heading for a weekly gain of more than 1 per cent as US-China trade optimism outweighed the prospects of Iranian supply returning to the market. Palm oil may slide further into a range of RM3,763 to RM3,804 per metric ton, as it has broken support at RM3,870.
