A driver’s licence does not expire in South Africa as long as the holder remains fit to drive, instead, it’s only the driver’s licence card that expires every five years.
According to Section 12 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (NRTA), no person shall drive a motor vehicle on a public road in South Africa except under the authority, and in accordance with, the conditions of a licence issued to them in terms of the Act or of any document deemed to be a licence.
The individual must also keep such licence or document, or any other prescribed authorisation, with them in the vehicle, the NRTA states.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) explains that this must be read together with Regulations 101(2)(a) of the National Road Traffic Regulations (NRTR).
This stipulates that the period of validity of a driving licence issued or deemed to be issued in terms of the NRTA shall be indefinite, unless such licence has been suspended or cancelled in terms of the Act.
Therefore, as a matter of law, a person’s driver’s licence cannot expire or become invalid unless a court suspends or revokes it, like in cases of convicted drunk drivers, said Outa.
Meanwhile, Regulation 108(5)(a) of the NRTR stipulates that subject to Regulation 101(2)(a), a driving licence card shall expire five years from the date on which it was ordered from the card production facility.
In other words, the limitation imposed by Regulation 108(5)(a) – which is to renew a driving licence card every five years – is not on the licence itself, but pertains to how proof of the fact that you have a valid licence must be carried and presented.
The crucial difference between a driver’s licence and a driver’s licence card thus lies in the distinction that the card is merely proof of a valid driver’s licence that must be carried by the holder on public roads, but it does not affect the validity thereof.
“This is analogous to an expired passport that does not affect the status of a person’s citizenship, but a valid passport is required for international travel as a South African citizen in order to serve as proof of such citizenship in foreign countries,” said Outa.
Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) CEO, Makhosini Msibi, recently confirmed that the five-year validity period referred to in the NRTR isn’t an arbitrary number plucked out of a hat back when these laws were set up.
Indeed, he said the five-year validity period deals “specifically with the health of the driver” – for example, motorists needing periodic eye exams to verify that their vision is still up to scratch.
The text on the document must be updated if a driver’s state of health has changed over the five years, which will require the production of a new card.
Muddying the waters
Speaking on why the RTMC and Department of Transport decided to shelve the proposal for extending the country’s driver’s licence renewal period to eight years, Msibi said that the entities had conducted studies to determine if this is the best course of action and found that it was not.
In addition to the requirement of periodic driver health checks, he said numerous accidents on the country’s roads every day are related to “communicable diseases and other diseases,” so it remains “critical that we maintain [the current licence validity period] until all these issues have been dealt with.”
However, Outa has questioned whether these studies were actually performed, and argues that the reasons provided by Msibi to keep the validity period at five years are baseless.
“Outa is of the opinion that the ‘reasons’ provided by the RTMC are completely unfounded and do not appear to be backed up by research or valid reasons as to how they arrived at this reason,” said the organisation in response to queries from TopAuto.
“In addition, many countries around the world have licence validity well beyond five years. They are not immune to the supposed ‘communicable diseases’ reason provided. In simple terms, we find this reason to be ludicrous.”
Outa believes there may be other motives lurking behind the scenes, possibly financial in nature.
“It is interesting to note that the first reason given back in August 2022 (by the then Minister of Transport – Fikile Mbalula) to not extend the validity period of the driving licence card was because government was of the view that the material from which the licence cards were manufactured initially was believed to only last for five years and needed to be taken into account,” said Outa.
“Given that government will be implementing a new driving licence card (which inception date is yet to be seen), they can no longer rely on their first excuse and now try to muddy the waters by claiming that the reason for not extending the validity period is due to the ‘communicable diseases’ issue.”
Outa in November 2022 filed an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to the RTMC, calling for a copy of the research report on the validity period.
The RTMC refused and said that Outa could not gain access to the report as the research was premature and ongoing, claiming that the report contains information, which if prematurely disclosed, would likely expose the subject matter of the research to a serious disadvantage.
“To this day Outa has not seen the research conducted by the RTMC in 2022, yet according to the RTMC (now) an extension of the driving licence card validity period is no longer viable due to ‘communicable diseases’,” said the civil rights group.
“Outa questions the motives of the RTMC as the ultimate decision lies with the Minister of Transport, and the Minister should not be influenced by an entity with vested financial interests in the decision.”
The organisation contends that extending the driver’s licence card validity period will afford government time to rectify major issues plaguing the existing renewal process, whilst immediately eliminating current and future backlogs.
It will further bear significant savings for South Africans as well as government, in expenditure, efficacy, and reduced time wasted.
If the validity period is extended to 10 years, it will also bring South Africa in line with international best practices, said Outa.
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