• KwaZulu-Natal drivers will have to change their vehicle license plates next year.
• The province will begin rolling out a new license plate system on 1st December 2023.
• It says the new system will replace the old one because some towns in KZN are running out of numbers to assign to new vehicles.

New vehicle license plates are headed for the streets of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) as the province will begin rolling out a unified version of the plates across the province from 1st December 2023.

The new system, according to the KZN Department of Transport, will no longer depict town and demarcation letters on the license plates but instead will, similar to provinces like Gauteng and Limpopo, simply have numbers, letters and the province “KwaZulu-Natal” depicted as “ZN.”

Previously, KZN license plates would come with numbers and different lettering depicting different towns and areas in the province. For example, “ND” would represent vehicles from Durban.

This system will be replaced because, according to the department, some towns in the province are running out of numbers for new vehicles. It will also have the knock-on effect of helping the fight against crime, which is rife in the province.

“The operationalisation and commencement of the new numbering system also follows a number of consultations with various stakeholders, including the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), and manufacturers of blank number plates,” the department has said, as per SA News.

“The department has tested the ENaTIS (Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System) system and can confirm that the system is now able to activate the new numbering system, supported by RTMC,” the department added, confirming that it is prepared to roll out the new license plates to millions of drivers starting in December.

KZN’s rollout of new license plates will begin with the registration of new motor vehicles using the new plates, followed by the re-registration of vehicles to new owners, and then the recovery and re-licensing of stolen vehicles onto the owner’s name and finally the licensing of government vehicles. This will all occur in the first phase of the rollout.

This means that drivers happy with their cars will not have to change their plates just yet, but if they sell their car and someone else buys it, the re-purchased car will receive new plates according to the system. Buying a brand new car will also see you install the new license plates. The first phase will end on 28th February 2024.

March 2024 will see the second phase begin and here is when drivers will have to migrate from the current system to the new system. “Motorists will be given 21 months, starting from 1 March 2024, to voluntarily migrate to the new system, after which it will be mandatory,” the department explained.

[Image – License Plates of the World]