Gauteng’s new number plates will likely have the same alphanumeric combination as the current identifiers – e.g. AB 12 CD GP – but with a slightly different design that incorporates a QR code and a national flag instead of a provincial emblem.
The nation’s most populous province, Gauteng is set to receive new licence plates within the current financial year.
While they have yet to be revealed to the public, the Gauteng Department of Transport has divulged a few key details about the plates hinting at what they could look like.
Thus far, the GDoT has announced that the new plates will feature scannable QR codes that will link to an online database of vehicle information.
Back in September 2023, it also confirmed to TopAuto that “The current series (AA 11 AA GP) is not expected to change until it is exhausted. It is estimated the series will last until around 2038.”
Based on this information, we found a Government Gazette from 2015 showing a proposed new number plate bearing all these design hallmarks.
On 28 January 2015, the National Department of Transport published in Government Gazette No.38430 draft regulation amendments intending to effect changes to motor vehicle number plates.
“The operability of the current South African number plate is prone to abuse by unregistered number plate manufacturers. Equally, the system in its current form is also taken advantage of by criminals who clone vehicles and commit other forms of crime,” said the National Department of Transport at the time.
“As part of the new improvements to our number plates, the regulations will ensure that manufacturers are regulated to ensure that we can account for every motor vehicle number plate that is issued through coding.”
While these changes never took effect, this is virtually the same reasoning the Gauteng province used for its decision to launch new plates today, approximately nine years later.
Additionally, the illustrations in the now nine-year-old gazette display the all-important QR code that we know will be a key feature of the new Gauteng plates.
Another noteworthy distinction is that these plates do away with the provincial emblem that is currently situated between the second pair of letters and the “GP” identifier, instead showcasing a national flag on the far left above the QR code.
As shown below, it seems this design was intended to be rolled out across all nine provinces in South Africa, but it’s possible that it will now only apply to Gauteng:
Red flags for Gauteng’s new number plates
A new set of controls is set to accompany the new Gauteng number plates, which the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) believes may put unnecessary financial distress on consumers.
Should this happen, the planned introduction of new plates may backfire on the province and cause it to lose significant revenue from fleet operators, said Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage.
Earlier this year, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said that once the upgraded vehicle identifiers are launched, every Gauteng resident who renews their car licence disc will also be obligated to apply for a new plate.
However, several questions remained unanswered, including whether the enhanced plates would be more expensive than the current ones and whether there would be new methods for purchasing and installing them.
“It would appear that the new vehicle licence plate scheme is set to force new controls that will come at a price,” said Duvenage.
“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.”
It currently costs around R200 to purchase a new Gauteng number plate for your car, depending on the supplier.
As such, any fleet that must re-register tens or hundreds of vehicles will certainly feel a price increase that could be severe enough to motivate them to pursue other channels.
While South Africa’s road laws dictate that motorists must register their vehicles in the same province where they reside, this rule appears to be rarely enforced, said Duvenage.
As it stands, the National Traffic Information System (Natis) only prevents registering cars with number plates from more than one province under the same person’s name.
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