AfriForum has welcomed the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport’s decision to halt the province’s planned new vehicle number plate system.

The civil rights organisation said the move protects millions of motorists from being forced to pay for replacement number plates while legal proceedings involving alleged price-fixing in the industry remain unresolved.

AfriForum spokesperson Louis Boshoff said the department had made the correct decision by pausing the implementation of the new number plate system.

The organisation had previously warned that it would seek legal action if the department continued with the implementation of the new system before the prosecution of what has been described as the number plate cartel had been concluded.

Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, made the announcement during the department’s 2026/27 budget vote on June 30.

According to Diale-Tlabela, the project has been placed on hold after ‘several system limitations’ were identified during the pilot phase that require ‘further technical improvements’.

She also said the project would only continue once those limitations had been addressed and the required national legislative and regulatory processes had been completed.

The announcement marks a significant change in direction for a project that was officially launched in June 2025.

At the time, the new number plate system was introduced by fitting redesigned plates to 300 vehicles in the Gauteng provincial fleet.

The original plan was to expand the programme to include all privately owned vehicles in the province within six months.

If implemented as originally planned, the project would have required owners of more than five million registered vehicles in Gauteng to obtain new number plates.

Boshoff said towards the end of May this year, AfriForum sent a lawyer’s letter to the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport demanding that the project be suspended until legal proceedings concerning alleged anti-competitive conduct in the number plate manufacturing industry had been finalised.

The organisation argued that proceeding with the replacement programme while the case remained before the Competition Tribunal would unfairly burden motorists.

The legal dispute centres on findings announced by the Competition Commission in March this year.

According to the commission, a cartel involving blank number plate manufacturers has been operating in Gauteng since at least June 2023 and has been illegally fixing prices.

Following the commission’s investigation, the matter was referred to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution.

Boshoff said his organisation maintained that introducing compulsory replacement number plates before the tribunal had concluded its work could result in vehicle owners paying inflated prices if manufacturers found to have engaged in price fixing continued to supply the new plates.

In its correspondence with the department and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, AfriForum warned that it would file a court application should the department refuse to halt the implementation of the project.

“AfriForum has repeatedly pointed out the risks of the situation. Forcing vehicle owners to pay for new number plates, while the so-called number plate cartel would be lining their pockets and prosecution of those involved is still ongoing, would simply be irresponsible. As long as the case is still pending, there can be no certainty that new number plates will be provided at fair prices,” explained Boshoff.

The department has indicated that work on the project will continue only after the identified technical shortcomings have been resolved and the necessary national legislative and regulatory requirements have been completed.

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