{"id":860240,"date":"2026-05-13T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=860240"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:54:05","slug":"good-news-for-people-renewing-their-driving-licence-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/860240\/good-news-for-people-renewing-their-driving-licence-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for people renewing their driving licence in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) has announced plans to reduce the average production time for driving licence cards to seven working days over the next three years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This strategy is detailed in the Annual Performance Plan for 2026\/27. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy stated that the DLCA aims to achieve this goal by tackling existing backlogs, improving cybersecurity measures, and addressing customer complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Annual Performance Plan details how the entity intends to provide the public with high-quality driver\u2019s licence cards printed efficiently within manageable timeframes,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of its production targets, the DLCA has established the average number of working days required to produce driving licence cards as one of its key output indicators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2022\/23 fiscal year, the DLCA took an average of 23 working days to produce a driving licence card. This improved to 22 days in 2023\/24, and further reduced to 19 days in 2024\/25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, the DLCA is targeting an average production time of 21 days starting in 2026\/27, aiming to reach 14 days by 2027\/28. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the aim is to reduce production times to an average of seven working days by the end of the 2028\/29 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the DLCA has set its production targets for the next three years. It aims to produce 2.6 million cards in 2026\/27 and 2.7 million cards each in both 2027\/28 and 2028\/29. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These targets are lower than the production figures reported in 2022\/23, when the DLCA printed over 3.4 million cards, and in 2023\/24, when it produced over 2.8 million cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There had been plans to roll out a new driving licence card, but these were postponed after the High Court ruled the tender process invalid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This legal uncertainty has since been resolved, allowing the DLCA to refocus its efforts on stabilising its production environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will involve initiating the acquisition of new production equipment to replace the current machinery and to modernise the card production process,\u201d said the DLCA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good news for driver’s licence validity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Transport is planning to extend the validity of driving licence cards in South Africa from five years to eight years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This initiative is outlined in the department’s annual performance plan for the 2026\/27 financial year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the department, they aim to submit the policy document for this change to the Cabinet for approval by the end of the 2026\/27 financial year, which is in March 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that, the plan is to seek parliamentary approval for the extension by March 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This updated timeline highlights a lengthy and delayed process for a change that was expected to be implemented years ago.  The department’s plan includes both short-term and medium-term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the medium term, the goals span 2026\/27 to 2028\/29. In 2026\/27, they aim to secure approval for extending the driving licence validity period to eight years, which will be submitted to the Cabinet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2027\/28, the department plans to submit the extension for approval to Parliament. However, there are no specific goals stated for 2028\/29. In terms of short-term goals for 2026\/27, several key milestones have been established. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, they intend to submit the validity extension to the Minister. In September 2026, the proposal will be submitted to the Shareholders\u2019 Committee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By December 2026, it will be submitted to the relevant Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) Clusters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, by March 2027, they expect to obtain Cabinet approval for the extension of the validity period to eight years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) plans to change the waiting time for people renewing their licences. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":858233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[23384],"class_list":["post-860240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-the-driving-licence-card-account-dlca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860240"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860306,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860240\/revisions\/860306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}