Gauteng launching new number plates
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Gauteng Transport Department MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela will launch a pilot for the province’s new number plate system on Thursday, 5 June 2025.
According to a post on Twitter/X, the Gauteng Provincial Government will unveil “cutting-edge, tamper-proof” number plates at the Nasrec Centre in Johannesburg.
Lesufi first announced plans to launch a new high-tech number plate system in the province during his State of the Province Address in February 2023.
He said the new system would help authorities crack down on crimes involving undocumented vehicles. He reiterated this view in an post on Tuesday, 3 June 2025.
“Fraudulent number plates and cars without proper documentation are at the centre of crime in our province, especially kidnappings, robberies, and rented murder,” he said.
“Criminals use undocumented cars to commit crimes. We are now ready to launch tamper-proof new number plates.”
The unveiling announcement follows the province’s piloting of the new system with government-owned vehicles in the 2024/25 financial year.
The provincial government has been quiet about the public launch of the new number plate system until now.
To facilitate the pilot, South African transport minister Barbara Creecy exempted vehicles owned by the Gauteng Provincial Government from complying with current number plate specifications.
“The objective of the new GP number plate system, with enhanced security features and related changes, is to improve the detection of motor vehicle and owner identification,” the minister said.
When he first announced the plans, Lesufi explained the new system would help address the high crime levels in Gauteng.
“In order to strengthen our fight against crime, we need to revamp our legislation on three crucial areas,” he said.
“The first one is the registration of cars because cars are a common denominator in violent crimes. Either as stolen cars or getaway vehicles.”
The current system is nearing the end of the possible number and letter combinations used to identify specific vehicles, meaning a new system is required.
According to Lesufi, the provincial government wants to use the opportunity to introduce number plates that are hard to copy and tamper-proof.
“Those who are using wrong or duplicate number plates will have no time to drive through our roads,” he said.
High-tech features — but big question about costs
A notice published in the Government Gazette in mid-November revealed some technical details about the new plates and their features.
The plates will feature the national flag, the “ZA” United Nations country code, and a QR barcode on the left-hand side of a vertical line.
On the other side of the line will be the vehicle’s registration number, which, if non-personalised, will remain in the same alphanumeric format currently used.
The QR code will link to a cloud-based database containing vehicle owner information, enabling law enforcement to verify whether the car’s driver owns it, has permission to use it, or if it has been stolen.
Beneath the code will be a decal, consisting of at least nine numbers and letters to identify the car and its plates’ expiry, that will “self-destruct” if someone attempts to remove the plate.
Gauteng motorists will have to re-register their vehicles and replace their current number plates, which is likely to come with additional costs.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) warned that making the new plates more expensive or difficult to register would likely lead to large revenue losses from fleet operations.
“It would appear that the new vehicle licence plate scheme is set to force new controls that will come at a price,” said Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage.
“This may backfire on the province, as it could cause big fleet operations to licence their vehicles at offices registered in other provinces in the country.”
Source: MyBroadBand
