South Africa backs 10-year licence renewals for most private cars
?s cabinet has approved a move to extend driving licence validity from five years to 10 for most light vehicles, a long-awaited shift that
South Africa’s cabinet has approved a move to extend driving licence validity from five years to 10 for most light vehicles, a long-awaited shift that could ease pressure on the country’s backlogged licensing system. The change, announced on Thursday by Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, still needs legal amendments before motorists can rely on it.
The extension will cover licence codes A, A1, B and EB, which include motorcycles and light motor vehicles. Code B, the standard licence for ordinary passenger cars, is the most widely held. Heavy commercial vehicles and public transport licences will stay on shorter renewal cycles, and professional driving permits will remain on a two-year period.
Relief for motorists, but not yet immediate
Ntshavheni said the longer validity period follows a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. The government’s decision is two years longer than the eight-year option previously proposed by the Department of Transport.
For now, motorists must keep renewing cards under the existing system until the legislative work is completed and an implementation date is announced. The new rule is not yet law. Not yet.
A system under strain
The move comes after years of frustration around South Africa’s licence-card bottleneck. The country’s only driving licence card-printing machine has repeatedly broken down, creating substantial backlogs and long waits for drivers. Efforts to buy a replacement machine also ran into legal problems.
That breakdown made the five-year renewal cycle harder to manage and turned the licence office into a public irritation. Civil society groups had pushed for a longer validity period, arguing that it would save time and money without improving road safety.
Wayne Duvenage, chief executive of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, previously called it a “common-sense plan” for motorists. OUTA has campaigned for 10-year driving licence cards since the Covid-era licensing crisis in 2020 and said research it conducted across 35 countries found an average validity period of 8.5 years.
What changes next
The Cabinet decision now goes to the legal and administrative steps needed before it can take effect. Until then, South African drivers renewing an expiring card will still have to use the current system.
For many motorists, the policy promises fewer trips to licensing offices and less money spent on renewals. For the state, it may also buy time to deal with a printing system that has struggled to keep pace. Ntshavheni’s message was plain: the approval is in place, but the clock has not started yet.
