The Fake Plate on the Real Car: How Cloning Is Fuelling South Africa's Hijacking Crisis

A New Weak Link in the Hijacking Chain

South Africans are used to hearing about hijacking hotspots and getaway routes. What's drawn less attention — until a burst of reporting over the past seven weeks — is the piece of plastic and metal that lets a hijacked vehicle disappear in plain sight: the number plate. Industry bodies, opposition politicians and a lobby group have all sounded the alarm in quick succession, describing an illegal plate trade so large that it is actively enabling hijacking syndicates to move stolen cars and trucks with almost no risk of being traced.

How Criminals Are Exploiting the Plate Trade

The Licence Plate Association of South Africa (LAZA) says the country's authorised embossers legally manufacture and supply around 250,000 number plates every month — but estimates that a large share of the total plates in circulation are produced illegally, with LAZA president Jan de Lange putting the figure at over half in one account and the DA citing LAZA estimates of up to 60% in its own letter to government (EWN, 8 June 2026; DA, 2 June 2026). A separate Business Day investigation found that a cloned or fraudulent plate can be bought on the black market in as little as 20 minutes, and quoted LAZA's estimate that around 40% of embossers operating in the market may be doing so illegally (Business Day, 1 June 2026). De Lange put it bluntly: "The thieves don't go out and steal number plates. It's just too easy for them to go to an illegal operator."

The consequence is that a hijacked vehicle can be re-plated almost immediately, defeating the automatic number-plate recognition cameras that traffic and police services rely on — and sometimes implicating a completely innocent vehicle owner whose legitimate plate number has been cloned onto a criminal's car.

From Truck Hijacking to Cross-Border Cover-Up

The scale of the problem was laid bare in a case reported in late June. A multidisciplinary law enforcement team seized 26 bundles of stolen copper worth roughly R12.68 million at City Deep on 18 June 2026, after Zambian authorities flagged that the metal had been moved using three hijacked trucks. One of the hijacked trucks was later recovered in Zambia — displaying number plates cloned from a legitimate South African logistics company, a business that had nothing to do with the crime. The syndicate had also used false Tanzanian plates and filed serial numbers off the copper to hide its origin (DigitFMS, 22 June 2026). It is a clear illustration of how cloned plates are no longer just a nuisance for motorists who get someone else's speeding fine — they are now embedded in serious, cross-border organised crime that starts with a hijacking.

Government and Industry Push Back

The political response has escalated fast. On 2 June 2026, the DA's Toby Chance wrote to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, calling for an inter-ministerial task team, warning that illegal plates make vehicles used in crime "almost impossible" to trace (DA, 2 June 2026). Then, on 21 July 2026 — just days ago — AfriForum publicly called on government to act on the same crisis, demanding that the Competition Tribunal's prosecution of three number plate manufacturers accused of forming a cartel be concluded swiftly, that unregistered plate dealers be shut down, and that illegal manufacturers be prosecuted and their equipment seized (Polity/AfriForum, 21 July 2026). Separately, government has confirmed plans to roll out new high-security number plates, including QR-code verification, in a phased rollout beginning this year, specifically to make plates harder to clone (GlobalVT, 2026).

What to Do if You're a Victim

If your own registration is cloned, you may only find out via an unexpected fine or e-toll notice — check your vehicle's traffic fine history regularly. If you are hijacked, or you witness a hijacking or a vehicle you believe is cloned or stolen, do not approach or confront anyone involved. Move to safety and report it to SAPS on 10111 or anonymously via Crime Stop on 08600 10111.

Hijackings can escalate into abductions, and there is no 24-hour waiting period to report a person missing in South Africa — if a driver, passenger or loved one cannot be reached after an incident, report it immediately to SAPS and log the case with Missing People South Africa so their details reach searchers and the public straight away.

A Systemic Problem, A Human Cost

What unites the copper heist, the DA's letter and AfriForum's demands is a simple, uncomfortable point: as long as a fake plate is cheaper and faster to get than a parking fine, hijacking syndicates will keep using them to launder stolen vehicles. Closing that loophole is now, belatedly, a live political fight — and one worth watching closely, because every cloned plate is a hijacked car that got away.

Sources: EWN, "License Plate Association warns that illegal number plate trade is booming in SA," 8 June 2026; Business Day, "SA security at risk as illegal number plates flood market," 1 June 2026; DA, "DA tackles illegal number plates, calling for Creecy, Tau and Cachalia to act," 2 June 2026; AfriForum via Polity, "AfriForum calls on government to crack down on crime in the number plate industry," 21 July 2026; DigitFMS, "Hijacked Trucks, Cloned Plates, Filed-Off Serials: Inside the R12.6m Copper Bust," 22 June 2026; GlobalVT, "New Number Plates in South Africa: 2026 Rollout Guide."

If you are in immediate danger, call SAPS on 10111. To report a crime anonymously, call Crime Stop on 08600 10111. For a missing loved one, contact Missing People South Africa without delay, or Missing Children South Africa on 072 647 7464 if a child is involved. For trafficking concerns, call the National Human Trafficking Helpline on 0800 222 777. For emotional support, SADAG's helpline is 0800 567 567, and Childline is 116.