What the new Gauteng number plate could look like

The Department of Transport has announced the details of a new number plate that the Gauteng Provincial Administration will pilot in the province.

This was published in a government gazette signed by transport minister Barbara Creecy, who exempted provincial government cars trialling the number plates, referred to as the G-Fleet, from using regular number plates.

Instead, they will be permitted to use a new design with several new features.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi first announced the provincial government’s plan to launch new number plates during his State of the Province address in 2023, saying the new system would help reduce crime in the province.

“The registration of cars because cars are a common denominator in violent crimes. Either as stolen cars or getaway vehicles,” said Lesufi.

“Those who are using wrong or duplicate number plates will have no time to drive through our roads.”

He emphasised that the new plates would be “very difficult to copy and tamper-proof”.

Now, the province appears to be launching a trial of the new number plates on its G-fleet vehicles.

According to the Gazette, the embossed aluminium pilot plates will feature a South African flag in the top left corner with the country’s name under it in sentence case.

Below that, it will display the United Nations code for South Africa, which is “ZA”, and a security feature positioned beneath it.

This security feature will be 1cm by 1cm and in the form of a square barcode, achieved using pin stamping. This will carry the unique identification number for each barcode.

A decal will be featured below the security feature, which the gazette states must self-destruct if an attempt is made to remove it.

This decal will feature at least nine numbers and letters identifying the car and a barcode linked to the car’s identification number.

These decals and symbols will be on the left of the dividing line, creating a 6 cm wide box on the left-hand side of the plate.

The allocated licence number will appear to the right of the dividing line, followed by the Gauteng licence mark — the province’s coat of arms and the letters “GP.”

In September 2023, the Gauteng Department of Transport told the motoring publication TopAuto that the number series currently used in the province (AA 11 AA GP) will remain in use until the combination is fully exhausted.

This is expected to last until 2038.

The name of the province in uppercase letters and Arial font will appear above the registration number, centred between the dividing line and the right-hand side of the plate.

For the pilot, the letters and figures will be printed in red.

New number plates with a catch

While the new number plate system should help improve crime-fighting measures in the country, there is a catch — Lesufi said each motorist who applies to renew their car license disc must also get a new registration number.

“We are starting afresh, all of us; every person that has a car must re-register and get a new registration number that cannot be copied and is reliable so that we know what is happening in our province,” he said.

“Everyone must register their vehicle … If you spend 30 consecutive days in Gauteng, it means your car must be registered in Gauteng.”

In response, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) warned the Gauteng Provincial Government not to make the new vehicle number plates more expensive or difficult to register.

Doing so would put it at risk of significant revenue losses from fleet operations.

Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said there are still questions that must be answered, such as how much the new plates will cost.

“It would appear that the new vehicle license plate scheme is set to force new controls that will come at a price,” he said.

“This may backfire on the province, as it could cause big fleet operations to license their vehicles at offices registered in other provinces of the country.”

All motorists will have to pay Gauteng’s vehicle registration fee, which is currently set at R204. With more than 4.6 million motorists in the province, the government would pocket over R938 million before any other fee changes.