Motorists planning to travel over the upcoming Easter weekend have been warned to ensure that their driver’s licences and vehicle licence discs are up to date.
The Easter weekend, which takes place from Friday 3 to Monday 6 April this year, will result in a massive uptick in road traffic as families travel to make the most of the short holiday.
Consequently, there will also be an increased traffic police presence on the roads with checkpoints and roadblocks to ensure compliance from motorists, checking for things like valid driver and vehicle licence discs, vehicle roadworthiness, and drunk drivers.
The traffic department’s Natis system shows that 700,399 licence discs will be expiring at the end of March, right before the Easter holiday.
The renewal of licence discs applies to:
- 259,563 vehicles in Gauteng
- 116,633 vehicles in the Western Cape
- 98,735 vehicles in KwaZulu-Natal
- 51,198 vehicles in Mpumalanga
- 45,240 vehicles in Limpopo
- 44,840 vehicles in the Eastern Cape
- 36,335 in the North West
- 31,964 vehicles in the Free State
- 15,891 vehicles in the Northern Cape
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said that motorists can renew their licence discs online by visiting the online.natis.gov.za platform.
Car owners can order a valid licence disc, which will be delivered to a chosen address within three to five working days.
The RTMC added that more than six million licence discs have been issued via its platform since the service was introduced in 2022.
This system can also be used to renew driver’s licences, which is relevant to 128,080 motorists whose cards are expiring this month.
This affects:
- 44,142 drivers in Gauteng
- 20,188 drivers in KwaZulu-Natal
- 17,108 in the Western Cape
- 12,515 in Mpumalanga
- 11,831 in Limpopo
- 8,404 in the Eastern Cape
- 6,187 in North West
- 5,471 in Free State
- 2,234 in the Northern Cape
“Drivers based in Gauteng, Gqeberha and Karigan in the Eastern Cape can use the same platform to prebook a slot to renew driving licence cards. Drivers in other provinces can use the services at their driving licence centres,” the RTMC said.
Motorists are also advised to exercise caution when travelling over the coming weeks, as the holidays typically lead to a spike in car accidents as a result of the increase in traffic and reckless drivers.
Traffic police out in force over Easter
The Department of Transport usually launches its Easter Road Safety Campaign in the runup to the holiday period.
Last year, the department stated that there had been a significant reduction in vehicle fatalities as a result of the campaign and its visible police presence on the roads.
It said that Easter 2025 had the lowest number of crashes and fatalities the country had experienced for the last three years.
The number of road-related deaths dropped from 307 in 2024 to 167 in 2025 – a 45.6% reduction.
This trend applied to eight out of the nine provinces. The exception was Mpumalanga, which saw a year-on-year increase of 27.3% with 28 fatalities compared to 22 in 2024.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy claimed that the improvement in holiday travel safety was due to three main factors.
This includes widespread, visible law enforcement across every province, coordinated action by the national, provincial, and local government authorities, and meaningful partnerships between civil society and the government, led by a public awareness campaign that had a positive outcome on driver behaviour.
This year is expected to be much of the same, with frequent police roadblocks checking for driver compliance.
Drinking and driving will likely be a major focus for the department this time around, as it is currently pushing to install a nationwide zero-percent blood-alcohol limit for all motorists.
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