The government has confirmed that South Africa will make the transition from a five-year to an eight-year driver’s licence validity period.
This is something that citizens and civil action groups have been demanding for years, but was rejected multiple times in the past for various reasons.
Even though the extension has finally been approved, the Department of Transport (DoT) stated that it is taking its time with the process to avoid any “unintended consequences.”
This has prompted a response from AfriForum, which asked why such a simple change is taking so long.
Louis Boshoff, an AfriForum campaign manager, recently said that extending the licence validity period should be as simple as updating the expiry date for motorists’ licences.
“Now is the ideal time to finalise the extension of the validity period of driver’s licences.”
“Nothing needs to be changed to the cards or the renewal processes — the expiry date just needs to be moved forward by three years.”
“However, the implementation of this decision remains pending.”
This comes after Transport Minister Barbara Creecy told Newzroom Afrika in an interview that the DoT will not rush the extension process.
She explained that the main reason for the delay is that the DoT still needs to assess the impact that the change will have on the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) – the entity responsible for printing the nation’s cards.
The DoT’s concern is that increasing the validity period will lead to fewer renewals and, in turn, reduced revenue for the DLCA.
The department is currently running a study on the financial implications this would have for the DLCA.
If it determines that a longer validity period will impact the DLCA’s finances, it will likely raise renewal fees to compensate.
“Once we take the decision, we do not want to be in a situation where later on we say ‘Whoops, there were unintended consequences’,” said the minister.
“There could be an implication that there isn’t enough revenue if it’s every eight years, and we may have to increase the tariff.”
Backlash over proposed renewal fee increase
The suggestion that the department may increase licence card renewal fees to offset the longer validity period has been criticised by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which argued that the government is not in the business of making money.
The organisation’s stance is that all government entities should only generate enough revenue to cover costs and should not be profit driven.
Outa executive director Advocate Stefanie Fick stated that the planned extension should not be used as a pretext to squeeze more money from the public.
The group argued that a reduction in licence renewals should result in fewer administrative costs, meaning it shouldn’t be necessary to raise fees.
Consequently, Outa is calling for the DoT’s cost study to be made public.
“Minister Barbara Creecy said the department may increase fees if the extension proceeds; if that is being considered, the full cost basis must be made public first,” said Fick.
“Government is not a profit centre. The DLCA must charge a cost-reflective fee that covers efficient production and distribution of cards — nothing more.”
Outa argued that, if the government is concerned about insufficient revenue, it should look to reduce costs and address inefficiencies before asking citizens to pay more.
“Absent this transparency, any increase would be premature and unjustified. This is consistent with Outa’s long-standing position that extending validity reduces pressure and costs across the system.”
“Before asking the public to pay more, the department must run a clean, competitive procurement, and show how governance improvements will lower unit costs,” said Fick.
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