diff --git a/django/forms/extras/widgets.py b/django/forms/extras/widgets.py
index 108b2c56e2f..4dabafae9e0 100644
--- a/django/forms/extras/widgets.py
+++ b/django/forms/extras/widgets.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 Extra HTML Widget classes
 """
 
+import time
 import datetime
 import re
 
@@ -46,7 +47,11 @@ class SelectDateWidget(Widget):
                 if settings.USE_L10N:
                     try:
                         input_format = get_format('DATE_INPUT_FORMATS')[0]
-                        v = datetime.datetime.strptime(value, input_format)
+                        # Python 2.4 compatibility:
+                        #     v = datetime.datetime.strptime(value, input_format)
+                        # would be clearer, but datetime.strptime was added in 
+                        # Python 2.5
+                        v = datetime.datetime(*(time.strptime(value, input_format)[0:6]))
                         year_val, month_val, day_val = v.year, v.month, v.day
                     except ValueError:
                         pass