The more things change, the more they stay the same, especially in South Africa’s driver’s licence system. Minister Creecy has inherited the mess: a SINGLE printing machine that’s working for now, a cancelled contract, and a Cabinet-approved licence validity extension still stuck in policy limbo. There’s a backlog of hundreds of thousands of cards - and zero assurance that the machine won’t break again next week.

And yet, government is still promising the rollout of the highly complex AARTO system - another bureaucratic behemoth that relies on admin systems we can’t even get right at a basic level. OUTA has sent a formal letter demanding answers. Whether we get any is another story. But what’s certain: this system is failing motorists, and we’re not letting it slide.

Read more about this project  here and here.