Great news for anyone with a driver’s licence card in South Africa

South Africa is one step closer to getting 10-year driver’s licence cards, as the Department of Transport (DoT) has submitted its extension proposal to parliament.

The DoT recently presented to the Standing Committee on Public Infrastructure and the Minister in the Presidency on its proposed legislative amendments to Regulation 108 of the National Road Traffic Act.

The proposal aims to increase the validity period of South Africa’s driver’s licence cards from 5 to 10 years.

This would apply to code A1, A, B, and EB licences, covering the types of light motor vehicles and motorcycles used by the vast majority of motorists. However, Professional Driving Permits must still be renewed every 2 years.

Similarly, licences with a C1, C, EC1, or EC code will continue to use a 5-year validity period, which is set from the date on which it is ordered from the Card Production Facility.

This comes after Cabinet approved the extension of South Africa’s driver’s licence cards from 5 to 10 years on 29 July 2026.

Less than a month later, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy gazetted the proposal to extend the validity period on 17 August.

The proposed changes were then made available for public comment for a period of 30 days, which concluded on 17 September.

With this process completed, the DoT is now incorporating feedback into its proposal to double the length of South Africa’s licence cards.

Now, the regulations need to be resubmitted to Cabinet for approval. Once this step is completed, the Transport Minister will be able to publish the amendments in the National Road Traffic Regulations, bringing the changes into effect.

The DoT said the extension would bring South Africa’s licence system in line with international best practices and help to reduce the risk of massive backlogs when the country’s sole licence card printing machine breaks down or undergoes maintenance.

The proposal notes that South Africa’s sole driver’s licence card printer has broken down on multiple occasions in recent years, resulting in major backlogs since the machine requires scarce replacement parts, and some parts had to be sent to France for repairs.

“There was a public outcry and demands from other organizations for an increase in the expiry period of driving license cards to 10 years,” it said.

“Civil society reminded the Department of a previous occasion where legislation was already in place to amend the validity period to 10 years.”

A study commissioned by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) concluded that an extension was warranted to align South Africa with the longer validity periods seen in most countries, and to reduce the impact of further printer breakdowns.

Possible price hikes for driver’s licence card renewals

While an extension from 5 to 10 years would drastically reduce the number of renewals motorists need to go through, the catch is that the renewal costs will likely be hiked to reflect the changes.

Since the number of renewals will effectively be halved, the Card Production Facility is expected to lose a massive portion of its revenue.

“In order to cover the concomitant costs related to the extension of the validity period of the driving licence card, the Minister commissioned the Card Production Facility to develop a pricing model,” said the DoT.

The Card Production Facility can then utilize this pricing model “to determine acceptable costing modalities for future adjustment considerations against the extension of the validity period of a driving licence card.”

While no further details are provided, this implies that prices will need to be increased in order to account for the reduced number of renewal applications.

Another notable change is that the current laminated paper driver’s licence card type used in South Africa will be replaced.

In its place will be a new, more durable polycarbonate card that will be better suited to the longer validity period.