KwaZulu Natal: It’s been scenes of excitement and jubilation for many vehicle owners in KwaZulu-Natal as they register and receive their new number plates with a new licence numbering system for the province.
The new licence numbering system came into effect today (01 December 2023), with all full-function registering authorities offering the service.
This has also been published in a provincial government gazette. Owners of new vehicles, change of ownerships and re-registration of stolen vehicles were the first to be served as part of the first phase of the migration from the current discrete numbering to a continuous numbering system.
Within the first 30 minutes of opening the Electronic National Administration of Traffic Information System (ENaTis), 300 vehicles were registered onto the system. Just before 12h00 midday, more than 1000 had registered on the new system.
The new licence numbering system was launched by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube–-Ncube together with the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Sipho Hlomuka, in Pinetown yesterday.
The Premier unveiled different categories of the new number plate system, including government vehicles, private vehicles, personalised and public transport.
Theophilus Christoper, one of the vehicle owners in Pietermaritzburg, was amongst the first to register. He could not control his happiness with the new number plate and the common identity it sought to build for the province.
Many other vehicle owners flocked to Pinetown and registered their vehicles. They were equally excited with the new look and feel of the new number plate.
“I am very excited about this new number plate. It is looking good, and I am encouraging other motorists to take up their new numbering,” said Theophilus.
Commenting on the first day of the system going live, MEC Hlomuka expressed gratitude to all the stakeholders who worked with the government to ensure that this project takes off and is being implemented successfully.
“The excitement of vehicle owners proves the correctness of our approach to have one common identity as the province. As a government, we are equally pleased with the overwhelming reception. We must embrace these changes because this is for the good of the province. We are doing away with the town numbering system, and we want to have one common number plate that depicts the name of our beautiful province,” said Hlomuka.
The Department is working closely with blank manufacturers, embossers and registering authorities to ensure the smooth running of the new system. Equally, the industry is working on availing sufficient stock and fair distribution across the province.