Good news for motorists with traffic fines in South Africa’s richest province

Gauteng’s metros have accumulated billions of rands in unpaid traffic fines, much of which has been classified as unrecoverable and written off.

The debacle has led to calls to scrap local government’s role in traffic fine collection, The Sunday Times reported.

However, stakeholders have called for a review of the revenue-sharing model.

The cities of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni have written off a combined R3.33 billion in unpaid fines, with Ekurhuleni accounting for most of the sum at R2.7 billion.

The City of Tshwane wrote off R633 million out of a total of R895 million in traffic fines.

Its executive mayor, Nasiphi Moya, highlighted the problems that Gauteng metros face with the current revenue-sharing model in Parliament.

Metros argue that the current model for traffic infringements, where they are required to issue fines and collect payment from motorists on behalf of the provincial roads department, is unsustainable.

This model is heavily skewed in the Gauteng Provincial Government’s favour, as it receives 80% of the revenue while the municipalities only get 20%.

The metros noted that they receive only a small portion of the revenue despite being responsible for operational costs.

Moya said the issues have been raised with Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, and that they are calling for an overhaul of the system.

“If it’s going to take a while for the Department of Transport to take over their function, can we talk about the split, but at least we increase it from 20% to 40%?”

This is in reference to the  Department of Transport taking over the administration, enforcement, and collection of provincial traffic fines.

Moya argued that provincial and national departments should pay the municipalities fairly if they are not prepared to deploy their own officers and systems to issue and collect traffic fines.

The unpaid fines were likely declared unrecoverable for several reasons, including missed court deadlines, expiration dates, and a sluggish escalation to enforcement notices.

Motorists cannot be arrested for traffic fines

Earlier this year, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla explained that motorists cannot be arrested for unpaid traffic fines under the incoming Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act.

AARTO was supposed to be implemented at the end of 2025, but the launch date has since been pushed back to 1 July 2026.

This system will overhaul South Africa’s road laws with policies for driving infringements and offences, including a new demerit system.

However, Fihla noted that AARTO does not allow motorists to be arrested for unpaid fines.

“You can’t arrest the person for any outstanding traffic fines,” Fihla said, though he added that officers are allowed to advise or persuade motorists to pay fines on the spot

Even so, he stressed that officials “can’t force you to pay.”

That being said, motorists can be arrested if a warrant is issued for their offences.

Fihlas tated that motorists should be aware of the differences between AARTO and the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), which still governs traffic infringements in the rest of the country.

Under the CPA, officers can arrest motorists with outstanding fines if a warrant has been issued relating to the offences.