Pretoria – The High Court has set aside the appointment of IDEMIA as a preferred bidder for the multi-million rand Driving License Card Machines tender.
The French company, IDEMA, whose contract with the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) was cancelled last year, came under the spotlight after its subsidiary IDEMA Identity scored a big deal to produce SA’s new smart driver’s licence cards.
On 26 August 2024, ACSA cancelled the contract with IDEMA, which involved a R115 million establishment of a biometric and digital identity technology system across airports in South Africa.
Hardly a week later, on Monday, 3 September 2024, the Department of Transport announced the driver’s licence deal with IDEMA Identity and Security South Africa.
The deal raised eyebrows, prompting Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to request the Auditor-General to widen the scope of the audit process.
Following adverse findings by the Auditor-General, the Department of Transport sought a declaratory order to nullify the controversial R898 million contract to supply equipment for printing South Africa’s driver’s licences.
Today, Wednesday, 7 January 2026, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy and the Transport Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa welcomed the High Court’s declaratory order that sets aside the appointment of IDEMIA as a preferred bidder for the Driving License Card Machines tender.
On 6 January 2026, the Gauteng North High Court declared that the tender was irregular, invalid, unlawful, and unenforceable.
Consequently:
• The tender has been set aside by the court.
• The Department has been ordered to re-advertise the tender within 30 days.
• Pending the appointment of a successful service provider under the re-advertised tender, the department has also been allowed by the court to outsource the services of printing and issuing of driving licence (cards) to the Department of Home Affairs.
The court’s declaratory order was based on the department’s court application following the findings of the Auditor General that pointed out irregularities in the tender process.
Reacting to the court’s declaratory order, Minister Creecy stated that the court outcome is a vindication of the department’s commitment to the transparency and legitimacy of tender processes, with the decision to approach the court for guidance on the matter as a necessary step for effective regulation.
Backlog
Meanwhile, on 9 December 2025, the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) agency cleared the backlog of driving licence cards that were outstanding for printing following the breakdown of the printing machine from February to May 2025.
As a result, from 8 May to 8 December 2025, 2 239 456 driving licence cards were printed by the DLCA.
Update on the interim solution
The State Security Agency has approved the prototype driving licence card designed by the Government Printing Works (GPW).
The establishment of the network connection between the Road Traffic Management Corporation and GPW was successfully tested.
This will allow the transfer of data/files required by GPW to print the driving license cards.
A Cabinet process will soon be undertaken to seek Cabinet approval of the prototype card design.
