Non-governmental group AfriForum has confirmed it will be legally challenging the five-year validity of South African driving licences. This follows the breaking down of the country’s only license printing machine.

AfriForum’s campaign officer, Ernst van Zyl, states they will be tackling this matter in court in August.

“We seem to be in this position again. This breakdown of this machine, the one and only of its kind in SA, I don’t know why we can’t buy a second one. This gives more weight to our court case that will be on 7 August. We have got a much stronger case now that South Africans are again being turned into criminals because they can’t get something as simple as a license card printed.”

Various other organisations have since appealed for the extension of the drivers license validity. The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) appealed to the transport minister at the time – Fikile Mbalula – in March 2022 to extend its validity period from 5 to 10 years.

Darul Ihsan Media Desk