‘Self-destructing’ number plates for Gauteng? Here’s what to know

“Self-destructing” number plates might sound like some clever spy gadget in a James Bond movie, but it could very well be the future of Gauteng number plates.

The new development comes after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced his ambitious plan of migrating Gauteng motorists to a new high-tech number plate system in his State of the Province Address (Sopa) last year.

The main reason provided for the introduction of the new number plates was that the province has run out of new letter and number combinations to assign.

New Gauteng number plate system roll-out

According to the premier, the new number plate system is also intended to clamp down on various criminal activities.

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

The new licence plates were initially set to launch in April 2024, but missed their deadline.

The Gauteng Department of Transport (GDoT) said the new number is only expected to reach the public in late 2025.

The numbers game…

According to TopAuto, the current series of number plates (AA 11 AA GP) would remain in use until they were fully exhausted, which is expected to last until around 2038.

Piloting of ‘self-destructing’ number plate

Earlier this week, the Department of Transport has announced the details of a new number plate that the Gauteng Provincial Administration will pilot.

The notice was published in the Government Gazette signed by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, who exempted provincial government cars (the G-Fleet) trialling the number plates from using regular number plates.

What will the new number plates look like?

The new number plate comes with security features that will “self-destruct” to prevent tampering.

• According to the gazette, the embossed aluminium pilot plates will feature a South African flag in the top left-hand corner with the country’s name under it.
• This will be followed by the United Nations code for South Africa (“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”.
• For the pilot, the letters and figures will be printed in red.

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The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) previously expressed concerns over the new system, stating the new vehicle license plate scheme may come at a cost.

Replacing the plates, as well as new controls and registration requirements, could increase costs for individuals and businesses, especially those with large fleets.

Outa said this could lead to the scheme causing big fleet operations to license their vehicles in other provinces across the country.

Outa stressed that these costs might tempt fleet operators to register vehicles outside of Gauteng to avoid the higher expenses, resulting in significant revenue losses for the province.