The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday said the planned replacement of Gauteng vehicles’ number plates had been kept a secret by the provincial department of transport.
This follows Tuesday’s budget speech in the provincial legislature when Gauteng transport minister Ignatius Jacobs announced that the province’s motorists will have to purchase new number plates from January next year, as the current number system is almost exhausted.
Jacobs said the new plates will feature improved security features, including a barcode to assist law-enforcement officials in obtaining information quickly on a specific vehicle.
Cameras along the R24 and R21 will be able to zoom in on the new number plates and immediately identify the vehicle.
The improved plates form part of the provincial government’s strategy to reduce crime, Jacobs said.
However, DA spokesperson James Swart said the plan was never discussed in the legislature’s committees or the transport committee, adding that the government had ”sneaked in” a new system that would leave motorists with another bureaucratic nightmare.
”Motorists now have to face yet another unnecessary expense,” he said.
Swart said the transport department had not learned its lesson from the new electronic traffic information system (eNaTIS) disaster. The R400-million national system, launched in April, was meant to allow for electronic traffic-related transactions to be done through ATMs and the internet — but failed after technical troubles.
”Motorists will definitely be sceptical about the new system after the eNaTIS blunder — it is very difficult to trust the department.”
He said that if the DA knew about the new system beforehand, the party would have suggested improving security systems rather than replacing number plates.
Beeld newspaper reported on Wednesday that the transport department will launch the new number plates in the next month, whereafter meetings will be held with affected parties.