Clearing a criminal record
If an old, minor offence is showing on your record and enough time has passed, it may qualify to be expunged. We will tell you honestly whether you are eligible before you pay anything.
What expungement is
Expungement is the legal removal of a criminal record from the South African Police Service database. Once a record is expunged, it no longer appears on a police clearance certificate, and you are entitled to state that you have no such conviction. It is granted by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, which issues a certificate of expungement that is then actioned by SAPS.
It is not the same as a police clearance. A clearance reports what is on your record; expungement removes an eligible record from it. People often come to us for the first and discover they want the second.
Read this before anything else. Not every record can be expunged, and no one can promise otherwise. Eligibility is set by law, and the honest first step is checking whether you qualify at all — not taking your money and hoping. If you do not qualify, we will tell you, and there is no charge for finding that out.
What can be expunged
Expungement is meant for minor offences after a period of clean conduct. In broad terms, a record may be eligible if:
- Ten years have passed since the conviction, and you have not been convicted of anything else in that time (this is the most common route).
- The sentence was one the law treats as minor — a fine under a set threshold, a suspended sentence, a caution, or a correctional-supervision order rather than direct imprisonment.
- The offence was decriminalised after your conviction — certain apartheid-era and since-repealed offences fall away without the ten-year wait.
- You were diverted or the matter was dealt with under the Child Justice Act as a minor, where shorter periods apply.
Serious offences, and convictions carrying direct imprisonment above the statutory threshold, are generally not eligible. Sexual offences against children or people with disabilities that place you on the National Register cannot be expunged in the ordinary way. This is a summary, not legal advice — the precise test depends on your record, which is exactly why we check it first.
How the process works
- Eligibility check We look at your record — usually your police clearance is the starting point — and assess against the statutory criteria whether an application is worth making. If it is not, we say so, and stop here.
- Assemble the application If you are eligible, we compile the application to the Department of Justice: the prescribed forms, a certified copy of your record, your identity documents, and the supporting material the Director-General requires.
- Submission and follow-up The application goes to the Department of Justice, which considers it and — where granted — issues a certificate of expungement. We follow it up through the process.
- SAPS updates the record The certificate is sent to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre, which removes the record. After that, a fresh police clearance will no longer show it.
What it costs
- Expungement
- R6,450our fee for the application
- Eligibility check
- Freebefore you commit
R6,450 covers the eligibility assessment, preparing and lodging the application with the Department of Justice, and following it through to the outcome. If you also need a fresh police clearance afterwards to prove the record is gone, that is the standard R2,450.
We do not charge for the initial eligibility view. If your record does not qualify, you have lost nothing but the time it took us to look.
How long it takes
Expungement is slower than a police clearance and more variable — the Department of Justice's own timeline governs it, and it is commonly several months rather than several weeks. We cannot compress it, and anyone claiming a fixed turnaround on an expungement is not being straight with you. What we can do is make sure the application is complete and correct so it is not delayed or refused on a technicality.
An honest word on expectations
This is a service we offer carefully. The law decides who qualifies, the Department of Justice decides each application, and neither is ours to influence. What we bring is an accurate read on whether you are eligible before you spend anything, and a properly assembled application if you are. If that is what you need, we are glad to help. If someone has told you any record can be wiped for a fee, they are misleading you.