Car license issued for only 11 months - If I want 12 months I must pay an extra fee???

If I could give zero stars I would.

I renewed my motor vehicle licence on 23 January 2026 at Margate KZN Licensing office while the existing licence disc was still valid until end February 2026. Despite this, the licensing office issued a new licence disc valid only until 31 December 2026, providing 11 months’ validity; stating that the new disc is valid from the beginning of January 2026. A licence can't be valid three weeks BEFORE it is issued (refer to the following paragraph).

Regulation 26(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulations explicitly provides that where a licence is renewed before expiry, the new licence period must be calculated from the first day of the month following the expiry of the current licence. In my case, the correct validity period should therefore be 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 (12 months).

The municipality contends that because I relocated from the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and the licence mark HAD to changed according to them to renew the license in KZN, the expiry date “had to change” (as set out in the trail mail). This position is inconsistent with Regulation 32, which states that relocation does not override the licensing procedure contemplated in Regulation 26. This appears to be an internal administrative/system handling method, not a legal basis in the Regulations and is thus irregular and possibly *******. If they actually app**** Reg. 26(1) (issue-month rule) instead of the mandatory Reg. 26(2) for early renewals, that would be a misapplication of the Regulations.

Furthermore, their internal protocols does not null-and-void any Act or Regulation of the country, and failure to adhere to any Act or Regulation which supersedes internal protocols is an ******* act.

Nobody at KZN Licensing or traffic wants to take accountability.