The Gauteng Provincial Government unveiled new “smart” number plates during a pilot launched yesterday at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto on Thursday, 5 June 2025.
The plates will initially be tested over six months on government-owned vehicles operated by G-Fleet Management.
The pilot’s commencement comes more than two months after it was initially supposed to be completed, and two and a half years after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi first announced his new number plate plan.
The long-promised plates aim to boost the fight against crime by tracking criminals’ movements and assisting law enforcement in preventing crime.
The provincial government also said the new number plates will assist with revenue collection, regulation of roadworthiness and insurance, and provide data for planning and policymaking.
Other benefits the province touted include managing the supply chain of number plates and creating accountability from plate manufacturers.
The most significant change is the embedding of a scannable QR code that holds the vehicle’s registration information.
A digital backend portal will enable law enforcement officials to verify that the car matches the registration details to help crack down on cloned plates.
Another security upgrade is an anti-tamper decal underneath the QR code that will “self-destruct” to show when someone has attempted to modify details on the plate.
The final visual change is the addition of the South African flag and the ZA UN country code on the left of the plate, separated from the plate number by a vertical line.
There appears to have been no change in the font used for the alphanumeric characters making up the registration number.
In addition, regular motorists’ number plates will retain the current two-letter, two-number, two-letter format.
