Dept moves to stop use of driving licences as IDs to curb fraud

The National Transport Department says the proposal to amend the National Road Traffic Regulations is aimed at preventing some people, including foreign nationals, from fraudulently using driving licences as identification documents.

Under the proposed changes, driving licences, learner’s licences and Traffic Register Number certificates will no longer be accepted as general forms of identification.

The department says the amendments are intended to strengthen controls over road traffic documents and align the regulations with the Identification Act.

OCTOBER TRANSPORT MONTH CAMPAIGN NEW REGULATIONS TO STOP USE OF ROAD TRAFFIC DOCUMENTS AS FORMS OF IDENTIFICATION #TransportZA #OTMSA2026 https://t.co/6rtVBeT8OV — Department of Transport (@Dotransport) October 9, 2026 “We want to remove the legal ambiguity, stop abuse and align road traffic legislation with the Identification Act.

So we basically want to get rid of the habit where people have turned all these institutions such as banks, airports, residential estates, into traffic departments.

People are asked to produce their licences and their traffic register numbers.

The department that is responsible for the Identification Act is the Home Affairs Department; therefore, for identification purposes, people must use IDs, hence the amendments that we are introducing,” says the Department’s spokesperson, Collen Msibi.

Meanwhile, Msibi says the regulations will take effect once they have been gazetted and all required processes have been finalised.

“The regulations will come into operation once all comments and inputs have been considered and incorporated into a final set of amendments which the Department will publish in the government gazette with the commencement dates.

Provinces have, in the interim, been instructed to centralise the issuing of traffic register numbers at provincial help desks to strengthen controls,” says Msibi.

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