New number plates for South Africa’s richest province

The Gauteng provincial government is preparing to finally launch its new vehicle licence plate pilot for the province, after years of delays.

According to the province, it will launch the pilot of the new number plate system on Thursday (5 June).

This comes after a long delay in the process dating back as far as 2015, when a change for the province’s licence plates was first proposed.

Current Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has been promising the plates since his state of the province address in 2023.

In 2024, he suddenly announced the introduction of upgraded plates, saying Gauteng residents would need to apply for a new number plate, initially set to launch in April 2024.

However, after stating that the new plates would be available to all motorists in Gauteng, Lesufi changed his tune and revealed that only a pilot be luanched.

This would start with government vehicles and then head to private vehicles.

The new licence plates were then scheduled to be introduced before the end of the 2024/25 financial year. The financial year ended in March 2025, with no sign of the plates.

The Gauteng Provincial Government has now finally scheduled the official launch of the pilot for 5 June 2025.

What the plates will look like

The design of the new plates was described in November 2024 in a government gazette.

The aluminium plates will require a South Bureau of Standards certification mark on the bottom right below the Gauteng province’s licence mark.

It must also display the South African flag in the top left corner.

Notably, the plate must bear a 1cm by 1cm security feature (a barcode) positioned immediately below the United Nations’ country sign, “ZA.”

A decal must also be attached below the security feature that will “self-destruct” if any attempt is made to remove it.

The decal will have at least nine numbers and letters identifying the car that depicts the year of expiry of the number plate.

Why Gauteng needs new number plates

The key reason given for a new licence plate system in Gauteng is security.

The existing number plate system is vulnerable to abuse by unregistered manufacturers and criminals who clone vehicles to commit crimes.

The proposed regulations aimed to introduce stricter controls over number plate production and distribution to address these issues.

Another reason given for getting new plates is that the current lettering system is running out of combinations.

The current series of number plates (AA 11 AA GP) is expected to remain in use until fully exhausted—a process expected to last until around 2038—but a new system will be needed after that.

The province itself has flagged crime levels as the main reason for the change, however.

“In order to strengthen our fight against crime, we need to revamp our legislation in…crucial areas,” it said.

“One is the registration of cars because cars are a common denominator in violent crimes. Either as stolen cars or getaway vehicles.”

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

However, the plan has not been without criticism, with civil action group Outa flagging the administrative costs of introducing a new system possibly outweighing the benefit of preventing cloning.

Outa also previously warned that the costs might compel fleet operators to register vehicles outside of Gauteng to avoid the higher expenses, which could result in significant revenue losses for the province.

This loophole undermines the effectiveness of the new system, as it could lead to widespread non-compliance, diminishing the intended security improvements.