Life in South Africa

The replacement schedule for existing number plates that cars bear in the Gauteng Provice has been published, along with the specification of the new number plates. Nothing much changes in the way the number plates look – the familiar blue on white design with the GP logo stays, though the number format changes to accommodate roughly 200 million registrations. The existing three letter, three digit scheme accommodated only 9 million variations. Differences to the letter colouring occur for governmental vehicles (red), those with personalized plates (green) and vehicles used for public transport (black).

In addition to the change in the letter/number sequence, the new plates will be metallic and will include a 2D barcode as well as an RFID chip. The purpose of the RFID chip is touted as a means of preventing illegally obtained plates from being attached to a vehicle. In my opinion, this is a secondary reason: toll roads and chip readers (already installed on the general highway system surrounding Johannesburg) will be able to utilize information from the RFID chip to charge for road usage and of course to ensure fines for speeding are allocated correctly.

It is likely that the cost of operating a vehicle on the highways of Johannesburg and surrounds will become a very expensive affair in future, not least of which is the requirement of having old number plates replaced at a cost to the vehicle owner in line with specified expiration dates.

The new plates will have a validity period of five years, after which they will have to be renewed once again.