New plates plan is no hoax

NEW number plates for the country are on the cards and the plan is not a hoax. However, a date for its implementation has not been announced yet.

This is according to the national Department of Transport, which issued a statement yesterday which backtracked on a comment made by national transport spokesman Ishmael Mnisi on Wednesday in which he questioned the authenticity of a Government Gazette document on the plans for number plates.

Mnisi told The Mercury’s sister paper the Pretoria News that the document was “fabricated”.

However, in a statement yesterday, the department said that on January 28 last year, it had published in the Government Gazette draft regulation amendments intended to make changes to vehicle number plates and invited public comment.

The department said it was still considering comments made, including expert submissions and internal discussion, and consultation processes were ongoing.

Once the consultation process was concluded, the matter would be “taken to cabinet”.

The department said it was considering various options, including using the national flag and provincial coat of arms on number plates.

According to the regulations in the 2015 document, available on the Government Gazette website, it was proposed that the number plates have features including:

Being of embossed aluminium.

South African Bureau of Standards certification mark.

Four-dimensional bar code with the QR code that contain various registration numbers.

Having a white retro-reflective surface.

Letters and figures in black for public transport vehicles, blue for general vehicles and personalised number plates, red for government vehicles and green for diplomatic vehicles.

The South African flag on the top left of the plate.

The allocated licence number and the licence mark of the respective province at the end, and the name of the province.

The department explained that new features were being proposed because the current number plate system was “prone to abuse” by criminals who cloned plates and committed other crimes.

“The regulations will ensure that manufacturers are regulated to ensure that we can account for every motor vehicle number plate that is issued through coding.”