Question NW781 to the Minister of Transport
03 April 2019 - NW781
Hunsinger, Mr CH to ask the Minister of Transport
(a) Why has there been a delay in the issuing of driving licences in the past 12 months, (b) what steps have been taken to resolve the backlog, (c) what are the reasons that members of the public have to return to redo their fingerprints, photos and eye tests, (d) what are the reasons that no investigation regarding the matter has taken place and (e) by what date will an investigation into the matter take place?
Reply:
a) The delay in the delivery of driving licence cards was occasioned by the system upgrade on the production machine and the labour dispute lodged by the employees involved in the production of driving licence cards.
b) The production team worked overtime to address the backlog. In January 2019, there was a backlog of 250k cards, which was addressed on 8th February 2019. As at 7th March2019, there was a backlog of 194k cards which was caused by a delay in the delivery of material. This backlog will be addressed by 15 April 2019.
c) The Department (DLCA) has been working on a recovery tool to retrieve the missing images (fingerprints, photos and eye-test) in some instances where we have been able to retrieve them we proceeded to produce and dispatch the driving license card. In those instances where we have not been able to, members of the public have been requested to return to the centres to redo their applications. There are also instances where cards had to be rejected due to cancellation requests from the DLTC or bad images sent to the DLCA.
d) The DLCA opened a case of extortion and sabotage and the office of the Directorate for Priority Investigation upon their investigation issued a “nolle prosecui” citing amongst others lack evidence as the reason for withdrawal.