The divisive Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is still a long way off from being rolled out to the entire country, says the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
The Aarto Act decriminalises traffic law infringements that were previously classed as criminal offences. It punishes drivers with monetary fines and demerit points, with those who surpass the maximum number of demerits seeing their licence suspended.
It was first mooted in 1998 and rolled out on a trial basis in the municipalities of Tshwane and Johannesburg in 2008.
However, the nationwide introduction of the Act has been dogged by administrative and legal challenges, with civil organisations like the Automobile Association slamming it for being geared towards revenue collection rather than law enforcement.
Perhaps the most prominent provocation, the Aarto Act was declared unconstitutional by the Pretoria High Court in 2022, a decision that was overturned by the Constitutional Court in 2023.
Following the latest ruling, the RTIA said it aims to roll out the traffic laws to all municipalities in South Africa by 1 July 2024.
Come June 2024, industry stakeholders at the NADAConnect conference in Cape Town revealed that the timeline had been adjusted again, with only the second phase of the Aarto introduction to start in July and the third in September.
The latest details we have now point to yet another delay facing the troubled deployment of the Aarto Act.
26 years and counting
Speaking to MoneyWeb, RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi said the RTIA is actively engaging with the Department of Transport (DoT) to finalise the documentation for the Aarto Amendment Act.
“Once all the requirements have been met, the Department of Transport will approach the Presidency to advance for the proclamation of the Aarto Amendment Act, which will lead to the gazetting of the date for national implementation of Aarto,” said Mkalipi.
In response to these comments, Outa said it is not surprising that the divisive legislation is still stuck in legal limbo.
One of the reasons for this is that Aarto, among other contentious points, funnels large portions of traffic fine revenue away from municipalities to the RTIA while leaving said municipalities solely responsible for flipping the bill to implement the act.
“There are a number of municipalities, including the City of Cape Town, who will not simply hand over their traffic fine management to the RTIA, and rightly so,” said Outa.
“The RTIA must now find a way to accommodate them and be flexible in their systems, to ensure the demerit point system is fairly introduced across the country.”
Additionally, Mkalipi’s statements indicate that the RTIA is “clearly still a long way off from being able to fully implement the system, which they once believed could be done within a year of being allowed to do so,” said Outa.
The association is concerned should the Aarto Act in its current form be written into law, it would place a massive administrative burden on the authorities and inevitably fail in its purpose.
Outa contends that the RTIA will become overwhelmed when thousands upon thousands of motorists submit challenges and queries against fines to a tribunal of nine people.
“We have always said the demerit point system is a good one, but it can only happen in government environments where complex systems of this nature are implementable and manageable” said Outa.
“Unfortunately, this is not the case with Aarto.”
Despite many industry stakeholders sounding the alarm on Aarto, the RTIA’s Mkalipi said that the organisation is forging ahead with the phased rollout.
Phase One, which saw the establishment of 40 Aarto service outlets, is ongoing, as are Aarto education and community awareness initiatives around the country.
Additionally, the draft regulations are being finalised as we speak, and the delivery of technical equipment to all 213 issuing authorities is underway.
“Working with the RTMC [Road Traffic Management Corporation], all issuing authorities are carrying out Aarto-related updates to the connectivity to the eNatis and concurrence on the rollout was received from all Transport Provincial MECs,” said Mkalipi.
“RTIA, together with partners, is ready to rollout Aarto as soon as the Aarto Amendment Act has been proclaimed.”
Phase Two will see the introduction of Aarto in 69 municipalities, while Phase Three will cover the remaining 144.
The demerit system and rehabilitation programme are then scheduled to be implemented in Phase Four.
Join the discussion