The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has put a temporary block on enforcement orders issued against motorists with old fines that have made it impossible for them to renew their licence cards.
Recently, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) started receiving numerous complaints from motorists who were unable to renew their licences due to old traffic fines of which they were never made aware.
After investigating the matter, Outa discovered that the RTIA is converting infringement notices dating as far back as 2019 into enforcement order status, and loading them against the vehicle owner’s details in the national vehicle registry system (NaTIS), thus blocking them from performing renewals.
Now, these drivers and vehicle owners are required to pay the “outstanding fines” before they can get a new licence, despite never being made aware of the fines when they were first issued, which is required of the authorities for the infringements to be legal and enforceable.
“In Outa’s view, this is taking place well outside the prescribed time periods, as is stipulated in the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act,” said Outa executive director, Advocate Stefanie Fick.
“Whether the RTIA’s failure to comply with its process is attributed to capacity constraints or dubious collection practices is uncertain. Nevertheless, this cannot continue at the expense of motorists, especially in light of the Concourt judgment giving government the green light to roll out Aarto nationwide.”
Your rights and responsibilities
There is a prescribed process as stipulated in the Aarto Act that must be followed by the authorities once a motorist is issued with a fine for a traffic offence, said Fick.
When a law is broken, the infringer must be issued with an infringement notice to inform him or her of the offence.
“This infringement notice must contain all relevant information related to the infringement, including that the infringer must within 32 days of the notice act on it – either by paying or contesting the fine,” said Fick.
Should the infringer fail to act, the RTIA must issue and serve a courtesy letter with the aim of ensuring that the recipient is informed of their infringement and the consequences thereof.
“Only once an infringer has failed to act within 32 days on a courtesy letter may the RTIA issue and serve an enforcement order,” according to Fick.
In the case where the RTIA has failed to issue and serve the courtesy letter within the maximum timeframe, it has deprived an infringer of the opportunity to comply with a notice.
“If this is the case, it means that the RTIA has failed to follow its own process and cannot merely convert the old infringement notice to an enforcement order. In these circumstances the enforcement order might be considered to be unlawful and invalid,” said Fick.
“However, setting aside a flawed enforcement order requires time, money, and resources – something an infringer should not be burdened with when the administrative flaw is a result of the RTIA’s own conduct.”
Outa urges motorists to check regularly whether they have enforcement orders on the Aarto website and follow the steps to get it removed, especially before they arrange for the renewal of their licences, whether it be a motor vehicle licence or a driver’s licence card.
If there is an enforcement order issued and they do not agree with it, an application for revocation may remedy the situation.
Outa highlighted three facts as vital knowledge for motorists and vehicle owners.
Firstly, licence renewals cannot be blocked by outstanding Aarto infringement notices (i.e. a fine that has not been converted into an enforcement order).
“Withholding licence renewals for this reason is not permitted by law and, in the event that happens, the motorist should report this to RTIA and/or Outa, and stand their ground if a licencing authority insists they pay their outstanding traffic fines before their licence can be issued,” said Fick.
Secondly, motorists cannot be arrested for outstanding traffic infringements unless there is a warrant of arrest, which must be awarded by the official claiming to be in possession thereof.
Lastly, “following our meeting with the RTIA on Monday, 21 August, the RTIA has assured us that all ‘enforcement order’ blocks on their system will be lifted, until such time as they have completed their internal investigation into this matter,” said Fick.
“This needs to be pointed out to the issuing authority who may try to prevent motorists from renewing their licences.”
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