SAFER ROADS BEFORE DIGITAL LICENCES

The department of transport should aim to reduce the carnage on the roads before implementing digital licences. That is according to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (OUTA) Adv. Stefanie Fick.

In September, the department announced France-based IDEMIA would produce new smart driver’s licence cards. One of the features was the ability for driver’s to have a digital copy of their licence cards on their smartphones.

Speaking in an interview with Salaamedia on Thursday, the executive director of the organisation’s accountability and public governance division questioned whether a totally digital solution was “fit for purpose” in the South African context.

“You can’t go out and have a solution that is not first for purpose, that’s not fit for South Africans. The solution is that government now definitely has to investigate this award of the tender to IDEMIA before they sign service-level agreements. This is costing the country way more than it should.”

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After the tender was exposed to public scrutiny, transport minister Barbara Creecy requested the Auditor-General (AG) to investigate the tender process that led to IDEMIA being chosen. Fick said OUTA received information of possible irregularities.

She said for now, digitising the process for renewal of licences would be a good idea. “I am not against digitising this process [so] that you don’t have to stand in the queue for your driver’s licence renewal. That doesn’t need to happen … It wastes time.”

But before digital licences can be rolled out, there was a long list of priorities the government needed to get in order, she said.

“When we have at least minimised corruption, government is a bit more efficient in their processes, I am sure that we can look at a totally digital process. But for now, prioritise road safety. Carnage on our roads is unacceptable. Get more police that can police our streets and our roads. Can we have these potholes [fixed]?”

In November last year, Queensland, Australia, a digital licence roll-out did not come without a glitch. An error message greeted users when they tried to access it. However, the glitch was attended to and thousands installed the app, an alternative officials deemed more secure.