{"id":875942,"date":"2026-09-17T10:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875942"},"modified":"2026-09-17T10:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:01:17","slug":"d-day-for-anyone-with-a-driving-licence-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/875942\/d-day-for-anyone-with-a-driving-licence-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Day for anyone with a driving licence in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The public comment period for the proposed changes to driving licence cards has closed, with motorists now only able to wait for the final shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy gazetted a proposal to change the validity period of driving licences in South Africa from 5 years to 10 years on 17 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the gazette, the change would be open to public comment for 30 days, with the closing date for comments set for around the 16th of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the proposed changes, the validity of a driving licence card for code A, A1, B, or EB driving licences will be set to 10 years from the date on which it is ordered from the Card Production Facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The validity of a driving licence card for a code C1, C, EC1, or EC driving licence will be set to five years from the date on which it is ordered from the Card Production Facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the comment window closing, the Department of Transport could move swiftly to make the change that has been promised and promoted for almost five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the civil action group, Outa, barring any political or logistical roadblocks, the new validity periods could be in place within months<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also supported by the strong push from the department to get the policy through long ahead of schedule<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension of driving licence card validity has been broadly welcomed by all sectors. However, the upcoming changes are not without their share of contention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the key points of criticism with the new laws is what happens with existing driving licence cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Transport has made it clear that any driving licence cards currently in issue will remain valid only for the current period and will expire on the date indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means anyone renewing their driving licence card before the official changes are made and operationalised will be stuck on the ‘old’ 5-year system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another point of contention has been the split between licence codes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to civil rights group Afriforum, there is no reason the 10-year validity period should not apply to all codes, particularly for heavier vehicles used in industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group argued that setting shorter validity periods for passenger transport licences or truck driver licences will discourage people from obtaining them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be detrimental to the South African economy if fewer young people were able to drive heavy vehicles, as these types of licences are often a requirement when applying for jobs,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It could also encourage lawlessness and result in large numbers of unlicensed and untrained drivers on the roads.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an alternative\u2014and as part of its submissions on the proposed changes\u2014the group suggested that these drivers undergo more frequent eye testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should be approved without delay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite this relatively minor apprehension, Afriforum said it supports the changes and urged that the debate over the finer details not delay the policy’s implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important that the decision be implemented as soon as possible so that other challenges relating to driver licensing can receive attention,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDebate regarding the finer details of the regulations should not delay the implementation of the principle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest concerns about the full implementation of the changes is that they might be tied to the procurement and issuance of the much-delayed driving licence card upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage previously expressed concern about the process of getting the new cards and new printing machines up and running, noting that the tender applications seem to have \u201chit a snag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the new card validity is attached to the new cards as a whole, motorists could be left in a 5-year validity limbo indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, AfriForum said it would continue to pressure the Department of Transport to procure new driving licence card printers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said this would also prevent future backlogs from forming, as had happened in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time has run out to comment on South Africa’s new 10-year driving licence validity\u2014with motorists now only able to wait for the final shift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":858234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2100495483571499086","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2207971416689924","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18127455241697034","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2419,2552,1988],"class_list":["post-875942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-afriforum","tag-department-of-transport","tag-outa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875942","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875945,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875942\/revisions\/875945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}