Africa-Press – South-Africa. Gauteng’s new hi-tech number plates are fitted with a QR code, track and trace feature for vehicle identification and registration, and a tamper-evident security decal which prevents cloning.
The plates are designed to break apart if any attempt is made to remove them, significantly hindering illicit plate swapping. They will also contain at least nine alphanumeric characters identifying the vehicle and depicting the number plate’s expiry year.
Speaking at the unveiling of the new number plates in Nasrec on Thursday, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said the plates were created mainly to fight crime.
“In about 85% of the crimes committed in Gauteng, a motor vehicle is involved — either as a getaway car, or it is stolen, or the registration is cloned. If we have to fight crime, we have to overhaul the car registration system,” said Lesufi.
This comes a week after police revealed that the car that picked up the late Olorato Mongale at her home in Atholl, Johannesburg, had cloned number plates.
According to transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela’s spokesperson Lesiba Mpya, the rollout of the plates will start in six months. “We are still at trial and testing to check all the features and cost implications after which we will know if motorists will have to pay more for the plates,” he said.
According to the provincial government, the plates will not only address crime but also help with revenue collection, regulation of roadworthiness and insurance, and provide data for planning and policymaking.
Lesufi had previously said the change would help the province as it was running out of numeric and alphabetic combinations and would this as an opportunity to overhaul the system.
Despite the promised benefits, the suggested plates have also faced some criticism with the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) raising concerns, and specifically highlighting the potential for high administrative costs associated with the new system.
The organisation said the new plate scheme may introduce new controls at a cost, such as causing big fleet operations to licence their vehicles in other provinces to avoid the costs.
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