Government considering uniform vehicle number plates to be used

The Department of Transport is considering introducing uniform vehicle number plates to be used in all provinces, in line with practices in the Southern African Development Community.

This comes just a few months after Gauteng launched a new series of aluminium number plates.

Currently, each province has its own number plate design, colours, and numbering scheme.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Congress of the People MP Dirk Feldman on Friday, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said uniform number plates would help SA achieve uniformity with vehicles from the region.

 

“All the plates would denote the Republic of SA , with the relevant province being allowed a certain portion of a plate wherein they can display provincial logos,” he said .

Responding to another question, Mr Ndebele said the ” intelligent number plate” process now being piloted in Gauteng would address the problem of false licence plates by enabling the department to check the audit trail of the production of the registration plate.

“The process would require the manufacturers and suppliers of (blank number plates) to record all the details of the blanks that they have issued to an embosser with unique sequential markings,” Mr Ndebele said.

The acting chief director of road transport regulation at the Department of Transport, John Motsatsing, said the idea of the standardised number plates was to streamline the road management process.

However, he said the introduction of the uniform plates would be done in such a way that motorists would not be financially burdened.