KZN motorists must prepare to start driving with new licence plates.
New vehicle registration plates for KZN, decided by the provincial executive committee in January, have been thrown into uncertainty. This was revealed on Tuesday at a briefing of the legislature’s transport committee by the KZN Department of Transport.
If KZN continues with the current plan, they could end up clashing with the countrywide plates, that will soon be announced by the national Department of Transport.
The registration plate proposed by KZN would have the province’s logo, three letters, three numbers and the suffix KZN. The national government however, wants to introduce a uniform plate that would be used throughout the country, which includes the South African flag and the name of the province.
Sue Grobelaar, a KZN department director told the committee that the national regulations would soon be gazetted and also open to suggestions, including those from the provincial departments.
DA’s Radley Keys said that if this process is rushed, it could lead to large amounts of wasteful spending. Transport MEC, Willies Mchunu, would not state when the process would be finalised but hopes that the new system would be completed within five years.
Mchunu mentioned that the current system, “remains deeply rooted into our ignoble apartheid past” as it was created to reflect the previous registration authority. For example “NKR” represented Natal Klip River. He said that changing to the new system would align KZN with other provinces in the country.
Keys did not understand how something simple, like a number plate, was seen as a sign of colonialism or oppression. He replied by saying, “Then we should also demolish this building (the legislature) as a sign of colonialism.”
The current vehicle registration system caters for 999 999 cars and currently there are 800 000. Therefore it is advisable to start implementing a change soon.
Zurika Louw, chief executive of the South African Number Plate Association, previously told media that introducing a new number plate system would be welcome and would have increased security benefits.
Louw also added that the industry is in favour of replacing plastic plates with aluminium ones.
