- A man named Ethan, who hails from the United States, shared that he redesigned the Western Cape's licence plate
- He gave it an American touch by adding a slogan and symbols that represented the province
- A few social media users appreciated the man's creative approach, while others weren't keen on the design
Now and then, change is good.
A man from the United States made an unofficial change to the Western Cape's number plate, leaving many online viewers on both sides of the fence.
A different design for the Western Cape
Licence plate fanatic Ethan shared on his TikTok account that he was giving the province's licence plate an American style by adding slogans and symbols to represent the area.
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He said to app users:
"Unlike South Africa's other eight provinces, the Western Cape has functionally no licence plate design. It's the most boring one in the country and could definitely use a makeover."
After writing the numbers in a rectangle on a piece of paper, Ethan added "Wes-Kaap" above it and "spes bona" (good hope) below. His reasons were because Afrikaans was the most spoken language in the province, while the Latin phrase is seen on the province's coat of arms.
Ethan also added blue to represent the oceans, an outline of the iconic Table Mountain and grapes on the sides because of the Western Cape being the top wine-producing region.
Watch the TikTok video below:
Redesign gets mixed reactions
The video had thousands of social media users, mostly South Africans, sharing their thoughts about the man's play on the licence plate for the Western Cape.
Some applauded the man's work, while others rejected the American redesign and thought it was unnecessary, given the country's current relationship with Donald Trump, who assumed South Africa's minority faced discrimination.
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An unimpressed @sarahprettytshaba stated:
"No, thank you. We don't want anything that reflects America here."
@daddyadrianofficial had no problem with the redesign but added:
"I don’t think we need anything in an American style. We are so sick of it being imposed on us."
@mattypiedt asked Ethan with humour:
"Not too bad. Can't you rather put 'Awe ma se kind' instead of 'spes bona?'"
@derek.gray.jr wrote in the comments:
"Love it! I can’t wait until you try the other provinces. Western Cape may have the most boring design, but they are unique. It's the only province where the letters indicate an area."
@9prometheus shared their suggestion, writing:
"You should have used the protea flower instead of the grapes."
@teezah321 told the online community:
"I don't care what everyone says about the specifics. I'm a born-and-raised Capetonian, and that number plate looks fire. I love the design."
3 Other stories about the licence plates
- In another article, Briefly News reported about a woman who let the public know she was off the market when she displayed her relationship status on her vehicle's number plate.
- A black Lamborghini with a customised number plate reading "No Degre" had the internet in stitches and sharing that education is essential.
- Last year, singer-songwriter Lwah Ndlunkulu posted a picture of her new Mustang with a personalised number plate. Fans raved over the expensive buy.
