Big win for motorists with expired driver’s licences in South Africa

The Department of Transport has ordered that airlines operating in South Africa accept expired driving licences as a viable form of identification under certain circumstances.

This was announced in a Government Gazette notice on Friday, 26 September 2025, where the department indicated that an expired driving license remains valid for up to three months, provided the owner can prove they’ve applied for a new one.

The three-month grace period is standard and intended to allow those waiting for their new licence to do so without worrying about being fined for driving with an expired licence.

For this to be applicable, the driver must have the expired card and a receipt proving that they have applied for the new licence.

“An expired licence card may be used for a period of up to three months, provided the holder thereof can show proof that he or she applied for a new card before the current card expired,” the department said.

“If the card had already expired at the time of application for a replacement, the holder must also apply for a temporary driver’s licence at the time and keep proof thereof.”

A temporary licence remains valid for up to six months or until the replacement card is issued.

“In that regard, airlines should accept an expired driving licence card as a form of identification of its holder under the circumstances outlined above,” the department said.

Given the consistent issues motorists have been facing with renewing their licenses due to the repeated breakdowns of the country’s sole card printing machine, this could prove a valuable silver lining to frequent fliers.

Printing backlog

The most recent breakdown of South Africa’s card printing machine was in February this year and resulted in a backlog of nearly 760,000 cards.

This backlog has since been reduced to around 300,000 cards, despite the department previously stating it had aimed to clear the backlog within four to six months.

The deadline for this statement would be between September and November; therefore, unless there is a substantial increase in card production, the department is unlikely to meet this goal.

With its current production rate, which was measured to be around 2,187 cards per day as of 11 August 2025, the department will only clear the backlog by early 2026.

However, more recent figures show the daily card production has increased to over 6,000, which, if maintained, could lead to the backlog being cleared by mid-November.

That said, the department has indicated that the new goal is to clear the backlog by December.