Good news for anyone with a driving licence card in South Africa

The Department of Transport is planning to extend the validity of driving licence cards in South Africa from five to eight years.

This is good news for South African motorists who have to undergo the unpleasant process of renewing their driving licence every five years.

The plan has officially been incorporated into the Department of Transport’s and the Driving Licence Card Account’s (DLCA) formal roadmaps.

Last month, the proposal for the 8-year extension was formally submitted to and approved by the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy.

The next step is to submit the proposal to the Shareholders’ Committee and have it moved to the Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) Clusters.

Thereafter, it will be sent to the Cabinet for approval, after which it will be submitted to Parliament for final approval and legalisation. 

This plan was widely welcomed by all stakeholders to limit the cost and frustration for South African motorists.

The Driving Licence Card Account explained that the temporary reduction in card renewal volumes would create a quiet window.

It will use this window to overhaul and upgrade the country’s ageing licence printing equipment and software systems.

Extending South Africa’s driving licence validity would also bring the country’s driving laws into line with those of many first-world countries.

Most first-world countries have validity periods of between 10 and 15 years. These include the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and New Zealand.

Although the 8-year validity period will give motorists some reprieve, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has repeatedly called for a 10-year validity period.

In June 2025, OUTA revealed that it had written to Creecy, requesting an extension of South Africa’s driving licence validity period.

“On 17 June, OUTA’s Advocate Stefanie Fick wrote to the minister, asking her to consider extending the validity period for all cards to 10 years,” it said.

Fick’s request followed OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage’s call for a similar extension to provide immediate relief amid the driving licence production backlog in 2025.

“We’ve been saying to Barbara Creecy for some time: start by extending the validity period of the driver’s licences from five to ten years,” Duvenage said.

“It’s the norm around the world, and that takes a lot of pressure off the department straight away.”