Cabinet’s approval of a 10-year driving licence validity period marks a formal policy shift, but the regulatory machinery required to make it law has not yet moved.
The decision, announced by Cabinet, extends the validity period for Code A, A1, B and EB licences, covering motorcycles and light motor vehicles, from five to 10 years. Heavy commercial and public transport vehicles remain under the existing five-year renewal cycle. Professional Driving Permits stay at two years.
Additional reference context is available at https://mg.co.za/news/2026-08-12-south-africa-approves-10-year-driving-licences-but-motorists-must-still-renew-for-now/.
The Department of Transport grounded the decision in findings from the Road Traffic Management Corporation, which determined that a longer validity period could improve administrative efficiency, reduce renewal volumes and ease pressure on the licensing system. That finding set the policy direction. What follows is the harder part.
Before the 10-year period carries legal force, Regulation 108 of the Road Traffic Regulations must be amended. The Department of Transport has indicated that draft notices will be submitted for public comment and then forwarded to the State Law Adviser for legal scrutiny. No implementation timeline has been announced.
For motorists facing expiring licences now, the Cabinet decision changes nothing in practice. The department was direct: “Motorists must therefore continue to renew expired driving licence cards until the new law takes effect.” Cabinet approval does not automatically extend existing licences. Anyone whose card is expiring must still renew under the current five-year system.
The reform concludes a prolonged policy debate inside government and civil society. The Department of Transport had previously worked toward an eight-year validity period. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) had campaigned for the 10-year period since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic exposed deep problems in South Africa’s licensing infrastructure. OUTA’s comparative research across 35 countries found an average driving licence validity of 8.5 years, with some nations issuing licences valid for up to 20 years.
OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage welcomed the Cabinet decision while criticising the pace of implementation. “This decision is almost six years overdue, but it is a victory for motorists and for common sense,” he said. Duvenage argued that the five-year renewal cycle creates unnecessary pressure on an already inefficient system without improving road safety. “The government has finally accepted that forcing motorists through an inefficient renewal system every five years wastes time and money without making our roads safer.”
OUTA has documented systemic failures within the licensing system: long queues, deficient online booking platforms, poor service delivery and delays in issuing licence cards. The organisation contends that reducing renewal frequency would ease pressure on infrastructure that has struggled with backlogs. It has also called on government to clarify whether the extended validity will apply only to newly issued cards or to cards already in circulation, a question the Department of Transport has not yet answered publicly.
The policy’s real-world impact depends entirely on how quickly the Department of Transport moves from Cabinet approval to a gazetted regulatory amendment. That process involves public participation, legal review and further procedural steps, each with its own timeline. Until that process concludes, the five-year renewal requirement remains the law of the land and motorists carry the full compliance obligation under the existing framework.
What the Cabinet decision does establish is a clear policy mandate. The question now is whether the regulatory process will move at a pace that reflects the urgency the Department of Transport’s own findings suggest, or whether implementation will stretch the gap between political approval and legal effect even further.