Licence card production to increase as SA’s only machine is back
The Department of Transport has confirmed that the driver’s licence card production machine is back and will be operating as per normal. The machine was taken out of production for three weeks in order to replace a broken part identified during a routine maintenance. DRIVING LICENCE CARD MACHINE BACK IN OPERATION The Department of Transport said testing […]
The Department of Transport has confirmed that the driver’s licence card production machine is back and will be operating as per normal.
The machine was taken out of production for three weeks in order to replace a broken part identified during a routine maintenance.
DRIVING LICENCE CARD MACHINE BACK IN OPERATION
The Department of Transport said testing of the machine after the part replacement took another two weeks before it was certified to go back to full production.
Now that the machine is back, this will see an increase in production from the 60 000 cards produced over the past 3 weeks during the testing period to about 120 000 cards per week, according to spokesperson Collen Msibi.
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Msibi said the machine has printed an average 2 850 000 cards per annum in the past 2 financial years. Since its commissioning in 1998 it has printed over 60 million driving license cards.
“The backlog is currently at 350 000 cards for the past five weeks. Backlogs are dependent on the number of orders received. There is currently a catch-up plan to address the backlog, which will be cleared by the end of August 2023,” he explained.
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NEW CARDS TO BE LAUNCHED BY THE END OF THE 23/24 FINANCIAL YEAR
Msibi said the Department of Transport is currently working on the process to introduce a new driving licence card as approved by Cabinet in August 2022.
The new driving licence card is expected to be launched before the end of the current financial year. It will also bring with it new card production machines to replace the current machine.
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