Avoid legal trouble: SAPS warning on unauthorised fireworks this New Year’s Eve
FIle. Saps warns of legal consequences for unauthorised fireworks this New Year’s Eve, with strict regulations and permits required in major South African cities like Tshwane, Gauteng, Durban, and Cape Town.
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For most people, lighting a few fireworks at the stroke of midnight is part of the New Year celebrations, but this could land you in legal trouble unless you’ve already completed some important paperwork.
There’s actually a surprising amount of paperwork you need to fill out just to be legally compliant as 2025 draws to a close.
The South African Police Services (Saps) imposes a number of safety regulations, with the highest priority being that a member of the public is not allowed to discharge fireworks within a 500-metre radius of petrol stations, hospitals, clinics, old-age homes, and animal welfare centres.
This applies to all the major cities in South Africa.
Fireworks Regulations in South Africa: Tshwane, Gauteng, Durban, and Cape Town
The City of Tshwane in particular requires that anyone discharging fireworks needs to have a valid fireworks licence in terms of the Explosives Act and has written authority from the local Chief Fire Officer.
This written consent needs to have been submitted 30 days prior to the event, so that means people rushing out to get permission on Wednesday are far too late.
For the broader regions of Gauteng, provided all applicable permissions have been granted, members of the public are allowed to discharge fireworks between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.
In Durban, the window is even shorter as it is between 11:45 p.m. and 12:15 a.m.
However, if you’re bringing in the New Year in Cape Town, there is no designated period for fireworks and local authorities will be on high alert to penalise transgressors.
Therefore, unless you’ve jumped through a number of legal hoops and don’t reside in the Mother City, it’s probably best to take in the New Year a little less explosively.