South Africa switched to a closed numbering system effective 16 January 2007. At that time, it became mandatory to dial the full 10-digit telephone number, including the zero in the three-digit area code, for local calls (e.g., 011 must be dialed from within Johannesburg). Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. All telephone numbers are 9 digits long (but always prefixed by 0 for calls within South Africa), except for certain Telkom special services. When dialed from another country, the "0" is omitted and replaced with the appropriate international access code and the country code +27. Background History Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces. South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. However, the territory had already been allocated its own country code by the International Telecommunication Union, +264, in the late 1960s. Namibia Following its independence, Namibia discontinued direct dialing from South Africa, and replaced it with international dialing using the +264 country code. For example, for a call from South Africa to Windhoek, before and after 1992: Before 1992: 061 xxx xxxx After 1992: 09 26461 xxx xxxx After Jan 2007: 00 26461 xxx xxxx Lesotho Calls to Lesotho could be made using the access code 050 instead of the international code +266; for example, to call Maseru from South Africa, subscribers would dial 0501. Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe Calls to Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe could similarly be made using the regional codes 0192, 0194 and 0191, respectively, instead of the international codes +267, +268 and +263. Number ranges 00 International access code effective from 16 October 2006 and mandatory from 16 January 2007. 01 The old Transvaal province, currently comprising Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and part of the North West: 010: New overlay plan for Johannesburg 011: Witwatersrand region around Johannesburg, currently code for the entirety of Greater Johannesburg 012: Pretoria and surrounding towns (also includes Brits) 013: Eastern Gauteng (Bronkhorstspruit) and Western and northern Mpumalanga: Middelburg, Witbank and Nelspruit 014: Northern North West and Southwestern Limpopo: Rustenburg and Modimolle 015: Northern and Eastern Limpopo: Polokwane 016: Vaal Triangle: Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg, which constitutes an anomaly, since Sasolburg isn't the old Transvaal. 017: Southern Mpumalanga: Ermelo 018: Southern North West: Mahikeng, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp 02 Western and Northern Cape: 021: Cape Town metropole and