Listen here.A Business Day investigation has pried open South Africa's black market for number plates and found the price of entry close to nothing. In this interview with Irakli, Business Day Deputy Editor Kabelo Khumalo explains how reporters walked out of three Johannesburg establishments with plates after doing just one thing - writing a registration number on a piece of paper, with no ID, licence or vehicle registration required. He warns the trade is above all a security risk: "Number plates is as good as a DNA for an investigative officer… because now we can't even rely on those." It also opens the door to cloning, dragging law-abiding citizens into investigations "for crimes that they have nothing to do with". Khumalo says the body representing legal producers estimates as much as 40% of number plates issued in South Africa might be illegal, and that getting hold of them is now as simple as a trip to the shops "to buy bread and milk". He points to the country's only three manufacturers of blank plates — one of which, Uniplate, "admitted that the system is imperfect" — and to "a syndicate in the middle that is distorting the market in favour of the illicit". Tellingly, the illegal plates cost the same as the legal ones: "people are not driven to buy these plates because of pricing, but because they want to avoid law enforcement." The DA has written to the Ministers of Police, Trade & Industry and Transport to set up an inter-ministerial team, while the Competition Commission pursues the three manufacturers over alleged collusion on pricing..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Edited transcript of the interview.Irakli (00:01.23)A Business Day investigation has pried open South Africa's black market for number plates and found the price of entry close to nothing. Reporters walked out with plates from three of Johannesburg's outlets after doing one thing: writing a registration number on a piece of paper. We have Kabelo Khumalo, Deputy Editor at Business Day, who has been leading the investigation, to walk us through and better understand what is happening behind the scenes. Welcome, Kabelo.Kabelo Khumalo (00:29.842)Thank you for having me, and thank you for the opportunity to explain what I believe is a worrying development that all South Africans must be aware of.Irakli (00:42.178)Could you explain to the everyday South African why these illicit number plates matter?Kabelo Khumalo (00:48.412)I think they matter, in the main, because of the security risk they present. South Africans will know that number plates play a key role in assisting police with investigations, particularly where a vehicle might have been spotted via an eyewitness account or CCTV footage. Police rely on those number plates to try to get the contact details or particulars of the owner of that vehicle.But if you have so many illicit number plates doing the rounds, that actually hamstrings investigations and essentially makes the police chase a black cat in a dark room. It also opens the door to cloning, where law-abiding citizens are pursued and investigated for crimes they have nothing to do with - because somebody can willy-nilly grab a number plate at the robots, write it down, go to the nearest illegal producer of these number plates and say, "Please produce this number plate for me." And it is done, as we have proved in our own investigation into this matter.Irakli (02:13.89)And can you walk us through how you exposed this illicit number-plating?Kabelo Khumalo (02:20.166)We essentially got a tip-off from one of our readers that this issue is prevalent in the CBD of Joburg - that the operators are now so brazen that they even stand by the robots to market these number plates. So we said, okay, let's put this to the test, because this could be illegal activity for all we know.So we did that exercise. We visited three of these establishments, the ones we could trace, and the modus operandi is the same. You essentially write down the number plate that you prefer, and then you walk in. There's no requirement for your licence, your ID or vehicle registration - nothing of that sort. You can actually buy them in bulk if you so wish.So this is something that is terribly worrying, and it's worrying that law enforcement has not picked it up yet. Because, like I said, if you drive in the CBD of Johannesburg, chances are you're going to be met with people at the robots selling these number plates.Irakli (03:34.466)You mentioned the police haven't picked it up. Is there a disconnect there, in terms of the different bodies overseeing what should be in their purview?Kabelo Khumalo (03:43.575)I think it points to a broader, lax approach that South African authorities take to law enforcement. We are a country where we wait for a crisis to emerge before there's action. This is a bit troubling for any government, because the onus is really on them to say you cannot have people who are so brazen that they can stand at the robots and conduct illegal activities - particularly on things that matter, like number plates.A number plate is as good as DNA for an investigating officer, or for the NPA when they present cases before the courts, because now we can't even rely on those. And how many cars occupy South African streets? There are many of them. Now we don't know which ones have legitimate number plates that can be traced to the lawful owners of those vehicles.It's just scary. It presents a scary proposition on its own - the possibilities this activity opens up for syndicates and criminals to get away with murder, for lack of a better description.Irakli (04:57.206)And you mentioned it's in the interest of the police to have these numbers correctly identified. Can you walk us through some of the numbers?Kabelo Khumalo (05:05.938)We reached out to the organisation that speaks on behalf of the legal producers of number plates in South Africa. They estimate as much as 40% of the number plates issued in South Africa might be illegal. That's how widespread this problem is.And we have had instances - I remember a few years ago in KZN, where somebody was stopped with a lot of number plates in their car. It did not make sense at the time how one person could end up with so many illegal number plates. Now it makes sense, because it's essentially as easy as walking to your nearest retail store to buy bread and milk. That's how easy it is for any rogue person in South Africa to get their hands on these illegal number plates.And no normal, law-abiding South African will purchase these number plates. It's the people who want to commit illegal activities who will be interested in procuring them. So that's the worrying part. From what we saw at the Madlanga Commission, some of these police were traced to the houses of criminals based on the number plates of their cars. I don't think they knew there was this avenue to procure fake number plates so as not to be easily identifiable.Irakli (06:38.828)And now that this has been exposed with the help of your investigation, what do you see happening next in correcting this, potentially?Kabelo Khumalo (06:46.953)The DA has already released a statement. They have a member of parliament, Toby Chance, who has written to the Minister of Police and the Minister of Trade and Industry. Trade and Industry has a big role to play, because the SABS reports to it and is also meant to verify some of these entities. He has also written to the Minister of Transport to establish an inter-ministerial team to look into this - because, at least according to the DA, they take this matter as seriously as any political party should, particularly those in this government of national unity.Irakli (07:32.492)There is also a legal pathway that this is going through, isn't there - in terms of the Competition Commission?Kabelo Khumalo (07:38.887)Yeah, the Competition Commission is focusing on a slightly different leg. The country has only three manufacturers of blank plates, whom we spoke to. We spoke to one of them - at least the one that was willing to talk, Uniplate - which admitted that the system is imperfect. They supply blank number plates to the lawful entities, but beyond that they can't help it. They don't know how the number plates they produce end up in the hands of the black market.But the Competition Commission's investigation is mainly on the competition issues and the market dominance of the three manufacturers of blank plates - that they colluded on pricing and so on. So it's separate from these illicit activities, which they deny being party to. But they can't deny that it is their blank plates that make it to the market, because they are the only three producers in the country anyway.So somewhere through the value chain, something has gone terribly wrong, from the point of manufacturing the blank plates to where they end up in the black market. There's just a syndicate in the middle that is distorting the market in favour of the illicit. And the pricing is the same as for the legal plates - that's the troubling part. The price of these illicit number plates is the same as legal number plates. That tells you people are not driven to buy these plates because of price, but because they want to avoid law enforcement, which is a troubling aspect of all of this.Irakli (09:31.694)At the heart of the story is who should be accountable. We spoke to Jan de Lange earlier, the president of the Licence Plate Association of South Africa, and he mentioned that he believes it should be the three manufacturers of these blanks and embossing machines. Do you hold that view as well, or where do you feel the accountability should lie in this?Kabelo Khumalo (09:50.82)I think they should - they can't deny any accountability. You can't produce material and then, when a large chunk of it ends up in the hands of illegal players or syndicates, wash your hands of the matter. There must be a certain level of accountability.Law enforcement, too - particularly when people occupy even the traffic lights to sell these number plates. I mean, surely the police and traffic enforcement have a role to play in policing this better. But I think it needs a lot of role players to take note of this and follow through. In the main, though, the manufacturers must ensure that their supply chain is watertight and that they can track their products from manufacturing to the end consumer.There must be a way, with the technological advances we have seen in the world.Irakli (10:56.366)Kabelo Khumalo, Deputy Editor at Business Day - thank you for joining us. Please go to BizNews.com to read further on the investigation prying open South Africa's black market for number plates.Kabelo Khumalo (11:08.156)Thank you.