INVESTIGATION | The hidden economy that costs lives
For many South Africans, passing a driver’s licence test should mark a milestone of independence.
But behind the scenes, an illicit economy of fraud, corruption and manipulation at driving licence testing centres and within the national traffic information system is extracting millions from the state and undermining road safety.
Just this week, a Toyota Quantum taxi carrying children to school was attempting to overtake four vehicles when it collided head-on with an oncoming truck. The death toll at the scene had initially been reported as 11 but has now risen to 13.
Concerns over the driver’s qualifications subsequently emerged. Sources close to the scene said the 22-year-old driver of the Quantum had previously been reprimanded by other motorists for reckless driving and did not possess a professional driving permit.
Buying legality
From municipal employees to provincial officials, multiple investigations and court actions show licences and licensing fees being issued, manipulated or cancelled due to fraud – creating a market where competency and legality can be bought or sidestepped.
Invalid driver’s licences are genuinely (although illegally) registered on the National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS). They have been issued irregularly by officials, for example to people who did not take a driver’s test. Fake licences are not registered on the system.
While there are no definitive figures given that this is by its very nature an underground economy, it is believed that as many as half of all drivers’ licences are invalid or fake. IOL has found that a legitimate card, registered in the system, costs as little as R3,500.
Systemic corruption
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) – empowered to probe corruption in government systems – has uncovered deep vulnerabilities in South Africa’s traffic sector.
In a major review, the SIU revealed a month ago it had cancelled 190,503 licences that were fraudulently linked to deceased individuals in eNaTIS.
It also referred dozens of officials and private individuals for criminal prosecution. “The investigation revealed deep systemic vulnerabilities, including the manipulation of the eNaTIS system by some officials,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
The probe found that foreign licences were converted using unverified documents, and that intermediaries described as “runners” and “agents” were facilitating fraudulent activities for a fee by exploiting processing delays.
Kganyago also outlined weaknesses in cash management practices at testing centres, including poor cash management practices such as the absence of daily reconciliations, misreported cash records, and unverified revenue statements, all contributing to substantial financial losses.
Arrests and court cases
Law-enforcement action has tracked a string of arrests tied to driving-licence fraud and corruption.
In the Eastern Cape’s Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court, three former employees of the Kouga Local Municipality were arrested last year on charges including fraud and corruption for allegedly issuing licences without the required tests.
In the Mpumalanga province, a former licensing examiner, Christoffel Fick, was found guilty of fraud and contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act after issuing a licence to an applicant who had not been tested at all.
A year ago, Fick was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years, along with three years of correctional supervision.
In Sedibeng District Municipality, internal probes in 2025 revealed that R23.5 million was stolen from a driver’s licence centre. This involved schemes in which fraudulent transactions were performed on the eNaTIS system and cash was not banked.
Sedibeng municipal manager Motsumi Mathe also revealed that this was not the first time millions of rand have been stolen in this manner at the driver’s licence centres.
Older reporting shows that this is not a new phenomenon. In past decades, the SIU identified tens of thousands of invalid licences issued at testing centres across the country and noted widespread corruption, although many of those licences were not formally part of the registered system.
Wide network
Past SIU work uncovered schemes costing the state millions and implicating a wide network of officials and intermediaries.
A 2025 retrospective found six Mpumalanga officials accused of R60 million in licence fee fraud, involving manipulation of eNaTIS records and illicit transactions that drained public funds.
“The SIU was authorised to investigate… unlawful or improper conduct… which relate to the … issuing of driving licences, learner’s licences or professional driving permits,” Kganyago said at the time.
Government interventions have also targeted illegally obtained licences.
Former Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced plans three years ago to cancel almost 200,000 illegally obtained driver’s licences as part of anti-fraud drives across licence testing centres nationwide.
The ultimate price
The illicit economy around licences is not just a matter of lost revenue – it also raises serious policy and safety concerns.
Licences issued or obtained through fraudulent means may go to drivers who have not demonstrated adequate competency, posing risks on the roads and eroding public trust in regulatory systems.
Moreover, systemic weaknesses in the administration of licences – from eNaTIS manipulation to cash controls – create incentives for corrupt behaviour, and state agencies have repeatedly moved to recover funds and discipline officials.
While the SIU and law‑enforcement agencies have identified and cancelled hundreds of thousands of suspect licences, there is still no comprehensive national audit of exactly how many licences in circulation were obtained fraudulently or through corrupt practices.
Available figures reflect enforcement outcomes rather than systematic measurement of the entire pool of licences.
Perhaps most devastatingly, people die.
IOL BUSINESS