UPDATE – (August 18) The Department of Transport has published the draft rules needed to make the 10-year driving licence card extension official. The rules, published on August 17, are open for public comment for 30 days before they can be finalised.

Once approved, driving licence cards for Codes A1, A, B, and EB will last 10 years instead of five. This covers motorcycles (A1 and A), light motor vehicles such as cars and light bakkies with a gross vehicle mass under 3,500kg (B), and B-code vehicles towing a trailer over 750kg (EB).

Cards for Codes C1, C, EC1, and EC – which cover heavier vehicles such as trucks, minibus taxis, and buses – will remain valid for five years, unchanged.

If your card expires while you’re waiting for your new one, you can still legally use it for up to three months after the expiry date. But this only applies if you applied to renew your card before it expired. If you did not apply before your card expired, this grace period will not apply to you.

Until the rules are finalised, the current five-year validity period stays in place.

LIMPOPO – (July 31) Motorists with licences for motorcycles and light motor vehicles could soon only need to renew their driving licences every 10 years after Cabinet approved an extension to the current validity period.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced on Thursday that Cabinet had approved increasing the validity period for driving licences for Codes A, A1, B and EB from five years to 10 years.

Not yet in effect

However, the change is not yet in effect.

Ntshavheni said the necessary legislation must first be amended before the longer renewal period can be implemented.

Motorists have been advised to continue renewing expired driver's licence cards for light motor vehicles and motorcycles until a new law extending the validity period from five to 10 years comes into effect.https://t.co/L8GhHi4XdL#GovZAUpdates pic.twitter.com/1lRf6zfVJR

— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) July 30, 2026

What the change means

Once the legal changes are finalised, the 10-year validity period will apply only to:

• Light motor vehicles
• Motorcycles

What stays the same

The approval does not affect licences for heavy commercial vehicles or public transport vehicles. These will continue to follow the existing two- or five-year renewal cycles, depending on the licence category.

Professional Driving Permits (PrDPs) are also unchanged and will still need to be renewed every two years.

What motorists should do now

The move is expected to reduce the frequency with which millions of South African motorists need to renew their driving licence cards.

For now, motorists are reminded that the current five-year validity period remains in place until the required legislative amendments have been completed and the new system is officially implemented.