The vehicle licence numbering system in KZN is once again a topic of discussion as the provincial Department of Transport says some plates are outdated in terms of the registering authority boundaries.

Transport MEC Sipho Hlomuka met with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) recently for assistance in expediting the implementation process through Natis system enhancements.

Hlomuka said the urgency in introducing a new provincial licence plate system is owing to the fact that some plates (such as NPS, NPN and NRB) are outdated.

Hlomuka said he is empowered in terms of Regulation 27(1) and (2) of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996, which states the MEC is permitted to, among other things, determine a licence mark and licence numbering system for the province concerned.

He said KZN is one of only two provinces without a continuous numbering system, and that new numbering would be easy to align with national intentions of developing a new national numbering system.

“As we move ahead with this process, we want to ensure there is job creation and economic empowerment of our people in KZN. These consultations will assist us in ensuring our roadmap towards implementation of the new numbering system is inclusive.

“As the government, we are also looking at better ways of ensuring there will be no burden to motorists when the project is implemented,” said Hlomuka.

Advocate Makhosini Msibi, representing the RTMC, said the corporation is ready to assist with preparing user acceptance testing and provision of necessary human personnel to assist with the transition.

As part of consultations, Hlomuka said the department would engage with other relevant stakeholders before outlining the final implementation process.

New vehicle licence plates for KZN has been the subject of much discussion and debate for a good part of the last decade – if not longer, with some historically calling the current plates ‘colonial’ and saying they were ‘subject to abuse’, ‘difficult for police to trace’, and ‘running out of digits’.