South Africa’s number plates are not changing, and government is hot on the heels of the mense who first started the rumour.
The Department of Transport says it had no knowledge of a “Government Gazette” doing the rounds on the internet that new number plates will be introduced in 2017.
Spokesman Ishmael Mnisi told The Star: “The document that has been doing the rounds is not authentic, and neither has the department made a determination to the effect reflected therein.”
Mnisi said the source of the document would be investigated and action taken against them.
The “gazette” dated January 28, 2015 claimed that the department proposed that registration plates be renewed every five years.
In the new dispensation, black plates would be for public transport, blue for general vehicles and personalised number plates, red for the government and green for diplomatic vehicles.
The story broke this week after the Automobile Associaton reminded people of the new plates on Twitter.
Howard Dembovsky of the Justice Project SA believed the source of the document originated from a presentation on the department’s proposed draft amendments.
This was then posted on Twitter by Arrive Alive on August 2, with a picture illustrating the new-look registration plates.
Rob Handfield-Jones, of Driving.co.za, said the department introduced the notion six years ago, but it was moving at a snail’s pace to implement it.