At a bustling licensing centre in Johannesburg, a line of motorists sways between impatience and relief as they wait for their turn to renew a card that may soon last a decade instead of five.
On 17 August 2026 Transport Minister Barbara Creecy gazetted a proposal to change the validity period of South African driving licences. To gazette means to publish an official notice in the government gazette, making the proposal legally recognised.
What the new rules mean
Under the proposal, licences for code A, A1, B or EB, the categories that cover most private cars and light motorcycles, will be valid for ten years from the date the card is ordered from the Card Production Facility, the centre where the physical licence is printed. Licences for code C1, C, EC1 or EC, the heavier vehicle classes used in transport and industry, will remain on a five-year cycle.
Existing cards are not automatically upgraded. The Department of Transport has said that any licence already in circulation will continue to expire on the date printed on the card. In practice, a driver who renews before the new system is operational will still be on the old five-year schedule.
The civil action group Outa welcomed the move, noting that, barring political or logistical roadblocks, the new ten-year periods could be in place within months. Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage has warned, however, that the rollout may be tied to the delayed procurement of new licence-card printers. If the new cards are not ready, motorists could find themselves stuck in a five-year limbo for an indefinite period.
AfriForum, a civil-rights organisation, raised a different concern. It argued that the split between ten-year and five-year validity creates an unnecessary barrier for drivers of heavy vehicles, a segment that supplies labour to logistics, mining and construction. The group warned that shorter licences for trucks could deter young people from obtaining the qualifications needed for well-paid jobs, potentially harming the economy. AfriForum suggested keeping the ten-year term for all codes and, if safety is a worry, increasing the frequency of eye-tests instead.
For small and medium-sized enterprises that rely on driver licences, from delivery start-ups to contractors in the transport sector, the timing of the change matters. Companies that plan to hire new drivers should watch the Department of Transport’s next steps closely, as a ten-year licence reduces administrative churn and the cost of frequent renewals. Conversely, businesses with drivers due to renew in the next few months may need to decide whether to accept a short-term five-year card or wait for the new system, weighing the cost of an extra renewal against the uncertainty of card production delays.
The broader picture is one of a long-standing backlog in licence-card issuance. Past delays have left many applicants waiting months for a new card, a problem the Department has pledged to solve by investing in modern printing equipment. If the procurement process stalls, the promised benefits of longer licences could be postponed, leaving motorists and businesses in a state of uncertainty.
In the meantime, the public comment period that opened with the gazette has closed, and the Department now has a 30-day window to consider any final submissions before moving forward. Motorists and businesses alike should keep an eye on announcements from the Department of Transport and be prepared for the practical implications of the new regime.
How South Africa’s new licence term compares
A ten-year validity period would bring South African car and motorcycle licences roughly in line with the United Kingdom, which also issues ten-year photocard licences, and ahead of countries such as Germany, where licences for private vehicles typically run for fifteen years but require a fresh photo rather than a full retest. The comparison matters mainly for cost: fewer renewals over a driver’s lifetime means fewer trips to a licensing centre and less exposure to the printing backlogs Outa has flagged, provided the Card Production Facility itself can keep pace with demand once the new cycle takes effect.
