Driving licence validity in South Africa is officially being extended
The Cabinet has approved the extension of driving licence card validity in South Africa, which will increase the time between renewals from 5 to 10 years.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni confirmed the approval in a post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday (30 July).
Cabinet approved the extension of the validity period for licence codes A, A1, B and EB, Ntshavheni said. However, this will only apply to light motor vehicles.
Heavy, commercial and transport vehicles will adhere to the current renewal cycles of between two and five years, and professional licences will remain on the two-year cycle.
“The change aligns with international best-practice, enhances administrative efficiency, reduces the frequency of renewal for motorists, and eases demand pressure within the licensing system,” Ntshavheni said.
The changes are not yet in effect and still require legislative amendments.
Until these amendments have been processed and gazetted, motorists are still required to adhere to the current five-year validity period and ensure their expired cards are renewed.
The confirmed extension for light motor vehicle licence card validity to 10 years aligns with the original intention to do this from back in 2022.
Former Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced in 2022 that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) would conduct a study on extending the validity of the cards to 10 years.
While the study was completed and submitted to Cabinet, the details were only revealed during the shorter tenure of his successor, Sindisiwe Chikunga.
In 2024, it was revealed that the RTMC’s study proposed and supported an extension of driving licence card validity to eight years; however, Chikunga’s department completely walked back the plan.
At the time, Chikunga put forward absurd reasons for rejecting the extension, such as nonsensical ties to health and communicable diseases.
That validity extension got placed back on the table in 2024 when current Transport Minister Barbara Creecy took up the portfolio under the Government of National Unity.
Creecy expressed her approval and willingness to extend the validity period in November 2025, and the department’s director-general, Mathabatha Mokonyana, confirmed the move in December.
In 2026, the Transport Department noted that the cost-benefit analysis was still being processed, and once it was considered, a change would be presented to Cabinet.
The extension was officially placed into the department’s short- and medium-term goals in April 2026, with the plan to have the cabinet’s approval by the end of 2026/272 (March 2027).
This target has now been reached far ahead of schedule.
The broader plan was to have the extension approved for submission to Parliament by the end of the 2027/28 period (March 2028); however, this could now also happen much sooner.
Medium-term goals (2026/27-2028/29)
- 2026/27 – Validity period of the driving licence cards extended to 8 years approved for submission to Cabinet
- 2027/28 – Validity period of the driving licence cards extended to 8 years approved for submission to Parliament
- 2028/29 – None stated
Short-term goals (2026/27)
- June 2026 – Validity period submitted to the Minister
- September 2026 – Validity period submitted to the Shareholders’ Committee
- December 2026 – Validity period submitted to the relevant Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) Clusters
- March 2027 – Validity period of the driving licence cards extended to 8 years approved for submission to Cabinet
The applicable FOSAD clusters are the Economic Sectors, Investment, Employment and Infrastructure Development (ESIEID) cluster and the Justice, Crime Prevention, Peace and Security (JCPS) cluster.
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