Story audio is generated using AI
The much-anticipated national rollout of Aarto is set to proceed on Wednesday after the South African Local Government Association (Salga) failed in its bid to halt the process.
“The Road Traffic Infringement Agency is ready to proceed with the rollout at the 62 municipalities that have been gazetted, as from tomorrow,” RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi said shortly after Salga’s urgent application was struck from the Pretoria high court roll on Tuesday afternoon.
Aarto, the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences system, is designed to deal with traffic violations through an administrative process rather than the criminal courts. It has been piloted in Gauteng and was scheduled for national rollout on July 1.
Government has spent more than a decade trying to implement Aarto, with repeated missed deadlines, shifting implementation dates, poor communication and lingering unanswered questions.
Salga, which represents 257 municipalities, lodged an intergovernmental dispute over the rollout and on June 20 filed an urgent application to interdict its implementation.
In his founding affidavit, Salga CEO Sithole Mbanga sought an urgent order pending the finalisation of the dispute, asking that the minister of transport, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and the minister of finance be “interdicted and restrained from implementing, operationally enforcing or giving effect to Phase 2 and all staggered phases to follow as from July 1. In the event that the dispute resolution process doesn’t resolve between the parties, we ask that the interdict remain operative pending the final determination of a review application to be instigated by Salga within 30 days of the finalisation or exhaustion or termination of the process”.
The court found Salga had failed to establish urgency and threw the case out, clearing the way for the department of transport to proceed with the rollout. It also allowed the Post Office — currently under business rescue but set to benefit from Aarto’s implementation — to intervene in the matter.
Mbanga argued that implementation was premature because municipalities were neither legally nor operationally ready.
The City of Joburg incurred substantial implementation costs, about R10m a month, while statutory mechanisms were not implemented. Notices and enforcement orders weren’t served, traffic law enforcement was weakened and offenders learnt that offences would go unpunished.
— Sithole Mbanga, Salga CEO
“Salga supports the objectives of Aarto but has difficulties with the decision to compel municipalities to implement phase 2 before legal instruments, the financial model, equipment, systems, training, standard operating procedures and service arrangements are in place,” he said.
“Municipalities are expected to implement a statutory enforced regime without clarity on the operative regime, without confirmed funding and without necessary eNATIS access, back office systems and service mechanisms available.”
Mbanga said Aarto was established in 1998 and piloted in Tshwane and Johannesburg from 2008.
“The pilot exposed legal, financial, operational and institutional defects which remain unresolved to date.”
He said Parliament was briefed in November 2016 by the Tshwane and Johannesburg metros on the pilot’s shortcomings.
“The City of Joburg incurred substantial implementation costs, about R10m a month, while statutory mechanisms were not implemented. Notices and enforcement orders weren’t served, traffic law enforcement was weakened and offenders learnt that offences would go unpunished,” Mbanga said.
“Tshwane’s experience was similar. They received low revenue collection, the deactivation of courtesy letter and enforcement orders, ineffective speed camera enforcement, unreliable postal service, unresolved revenue disbursement and a culture of offenders electing to go to court, which undermined the administrative process. Tshwane recommended the completion of the system or a return to the Criminal Procedure Act until Aarto is ready.”
All of those problems, he said, “remain alive in 2026”.
Mbanga said Salga had repeatedly engaged with the department of transport over Aarto, requesting the regulations, outlining the financial implications for municipalities and asking for the regulations — withdrawn by transport minister Barbara Creecy late last year — to be republished. That has yet to happen.
Mkalipi, however, said “solid ground has been laid for Aarto implementation in those municipalities that have been identified”, referring to the list of municipalities signed off by Creecy on June 24 and published in the Government Gazette on June 29.
“If legal matters emerge, we will engage with them. Those roleplayers who are against this can proceed with their case in normal court. But as things stand, we will be proceeding with phase 2,” he said.
Both the RTMC and Creecy’s office declined to comment on the ruling and referred TimesLIVE to the RTIA.
Civil rights organisation Outa (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse) said the judgment did little to reassure motorists, arguing there was still little public evidence that longstanding concerns about Aarto had been addressed.
“For motorists, businesses and municipalities, the uncertainty extends far beyond the implementation date itself. There is still no clarity on whether RTIA’s systems have been fully tested, what the final regulations will require, how objections and appeals will operate, or what businesses will need to do to comply.
“Millions of South Africans will now be expected to comply with a system whose practical rules have yet to be finalised and whose implementation is now being challenged by the very municipalities expected to administer it,” said Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage.
“Outa has consistently supported stronger action against dangerous drivers and meaningful measures to improve road safety and we remain unconvinced that Aarto, in its current form, addresses the root causes of South Africa’s road safety crisis ... You cannot administrate your way to safer roads.”
Salga said they were extremely disappointed by the court’s decision.
“While disappointed at today’s outcome, the reality of the matter is that the core issues that we wanted the court to provide relief on are still to be argued. Our legal team is preparing to take the matter forward,” said Cllr Sebang Motlhabi, Salga chairperson of public transport and roads working group.
Sunday Times
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.