After years of debate about the future of South Africa’s driving licences, the government, along with the Department of Transport and other stakeholders, is weighing up two main options.
It has been confirmed that driving licence cards will eventually be valid for eight years instead of five.
However, the push towards a digital, ID-linked driving licence is gaining momentum and could overshadow the extension plans.
Communications Minister Solly Malatsi unveiled a prototype of the digital system at the Global Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit in November 2025, during a demonstration of the MyMzansi app.
“The essence of that is the establishment of a single digital identity for all South Africans through the MyMzansi app, which will give you a digital identity and a centralised system to access government services,” he said.
Testing of this digital alternative is underway, and Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has indicated that going digital is the long-term goal.
“Long term, the aim is to go digital and, in the long term, to move to one identity card,” Creecy stated.
She also emphasised the need for closer integration between identity documents and driving licences, stressing that synergy between the driver’s licence database and the population register is essential.
The extension to eight years, confirmed by Department of Transport director-general Mathabatha Mokonyama, remains on the table, though the process isn’t being rushed.
Creecy told Newzroom Afrika that implementing the extension, which she described as aligning with international benchmarks, will take time.
She has instructed her department to study the financial implications before possibly rolling it out later.
South Africa’s licence card printing machine has a notorious history of breaking down, often causing major backlogs.
Extending the validity period could help reduce pressure on the machine while the department awaits a replacement printer.
By the time a new printer is in place, however, the digital licence might already be well underway, potentially making a physical printer less necessary.
The challenges
Minister Malatsi has announced that the MyMzansi app will be zero-rated, meaning South Africans can access it without using their data. Yet, several other hurdles remain.
“One has got to think about the fact that many citizens are not yet digital-savvy. In particular, older citizens like to feel that they have some kind of physical card,” Creecy noted.
Another hurdle is that not everyone in South Africa owns a smartphone, even though smartphone penetration is over 90%; access isn’t universal.
There’s also South Africans’ historically slow uptake of new systems to consider.
A clear example is the sluggish adoption of the Smart ID card, with many older people clinging to their green ID booklets for years.
South Africa also faces potential crime and fraud issues with digital identification.
“You can’t move straight into digital documents because there could be unintended consequences in terms of both identification and law enforcement,” the minister said.
For the proposed extension, the usual challenges persist, with a few new ones added.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Public Infrastructure in early December, Mokonyama noted that South Africans prefer longer gaps between renewals.
“They don’t want to come back to us every five years,” he said.
But who’s to say that once eight years becomes the norm, people won’t start pushing for even longer?
Creecy highlighted the financial side: printing licences is a key revenue source for the department.
A longer validity period could mean less frequent renewals and a drop in that steady income. This is being investigated by her department before a decision is made.
Finally, the outdated licence card printing machine, which is prone to frequent breakdowns, continues to put strain on the Government Printing Works (GPW) when it steps in to help.
Procurement for a new printer has faced delays after the tender process had to restart, highlighting ongoing flaws in the system.
Both paths forward for South Africa’s driving licences have their advantages and drawbacks.
Which one the government and its departments choose to implement first may simply come down to which one gets there quicker.
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