Transport Minister shares good news for anyone with a driver’s licence card in South Africa

The wheels are turning to extend the validity of driver’s licences in South Africa from five years to ten years. 

This has been confirmed by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, with her department issuing amendments to the National Road Traffic Act for public comment in August 2026. 

It must be noted that the validity extension is not immediate and will only come into effect when the amendments are signed into law. 

The amendments are unlikely to meet stiff opposition, as civil society organisations support the change and the government has been trying to implement the extension for nearly a decade. 

Once the amendments are signed into law, the extension will only apply to motorists driving light motor vehicles. 

Heavy commercial and public transport vehicles will remain subject to a five-year renewal cycle and regular tests. 

The changes will be the most significant change to driver’s licence cards since the system was first introduced in 1998. 

Prior to 1998, driver’s licences were documents stamped inside identity booklets and carried no expiry date. 

They never expired and required no renewals. Thus, they were valid for life, unless the driver was suspended or the licence revoked. 

The five-year renewal period came into effect with the new laminated cards in March 1998 to improve driver safety and bring South Africa in line with international standards. 

Now, the country is changing once again to match international standards by extending the validity period to 10 years. 

“The change was informed by a study undertaken by the RTMC, which recommended that the extension of the validity period would align with international best practice,” the Transport Department said. 

“It will enhance administrative efficiency, reduce the frequency of renewals for motorists and ease service demand pressures within the licensing system.”

The department made it clear that approval from Cabinet and the publication of the amendments for public comment does not mean the extended validity period is in effect. 

This means motorists must continue to renew expired driver’s licences until the new law takes effect.

One printing machine for six million licenced drivers

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has said the amendments are long overdue, having called for 10-year licences since 2020. 

“This decision is almost six years overdue, but it is a victory for motorists and for common sense,” OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said.

“Government has finally accepted that forcing motorists through an inefficient renewal system every five years wastes time and money without making our roads safer.”

OUTA has been calling for an extension to the validity period since 2020, with repeated backlogs due to a broken printing machine. 

“Government took far too long to act, despite having the evidence and the power to address this unnecessary administrative burden. We are nevertheless pleased that it has arrived at the right decision,” Duvenage said.

South Africa’s licensing system relies on a 27-year-old printing machine that regularly breaks down, and the government has failed to procure a replacement. 

In these past 27 years, the printer has broken down 159 times, which equates to nearly 6 times a year. 

This creates significant backlogs in the processing of licence card renewals, putting more pressure on the Transport Department’s printing works and the printer. 

The department knew the printer was outdated in 2009, when it first planned to replace it.

Fikile Mbalula, then Transport Minister in 2022, said the modernising of the printing machine was the solution to driver’s licence backlogs. 

Former Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga described the printer as “obsolete and prone to constant breakdown” in 2023. 

However, the department has yet to procure a new machine, and the 10-year validity period will bring temporary relief but not a permanent solution. 

South Africa has come close to getting a new machine, with the Cabinet approving a plan in August 2022 to buy one. 

This machine would produce a new type of licence card with enhanced security features and would be rolled out from 2023 to 2026. 

However, the machine was never procured, and the new licence cards have not been produced. 

The department has justified having one printing machine by saying it is a way to prevent fraud and corruption, as it is easier to prevent the misuse of one printer than many. 

OUTA has consistently argued that this argument does not hold water, with one printing machine not being enough for a country with six million licensed drivers.