Aarto now effective in 62 municipalities

The controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is being implemented in another 60 municipalities from Wednesday (1 July).

This comes after an urgent court application by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to stop the further rollout was dismissed by the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.

However, significant confusion remains over the regulations that are essential for implementing the act.

Aarto implemented in other cities

Aarto has been in force in Johannesburg and Tshwane for more than a decade, but several previous attempts to expand its implementation have been cancelled at the last minute.

It will now be in force in all metros except Cape Town, and municipalities countrywide except those in the Western Cape. The further rollout in this province was earlier deferred to a later date.

The previous false start was last year when the rollout scheduled for 1 December was postponed in November because the municipalities responsible for enforcement were not ready.

Issues with Aarto

In court, Salga argued that the Department of Transport had failed to engage meaningfully with municipalities.

It objected to the proposed formula for distributing revenue from traffic fines, arguing that municipalities would not recover the costs of implementing Aarto. As a result, municipalities would have to use funds intended for service delivery to subsidise the system.

The organisation also objected to provisions in the act requiring municipalities to purchase Aarto stationery from the Government Printing Works and to use the South African Post Office to serve infringement notices on offenders.

According to Salga, forcing municipalities to use specific service providers is inconsistent with municipal legislation, which gives municipalities control over their own procurement processes.

Salga on rollout

The application was opposed by Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA). The South African Post Office was also granted leave to intervene in the matter.

Salga requested that the expansion of Aarto be suspended until the issues it had raised had been resolved. The court, however, ruled that the matter was not urgent and that Salga could instead pursue the matter through an ordinary review application.

Salga also argued that municipalities were not yet ready to implement Aarto. In response, the minister’s legal team argued that the rollout should proceed and that municipalities would get increasingly ‘ready’ over time.

Where are the regulations?

Salga further argued that the regulations governing the implementation of Aarto by municipalities had still not been issued.

On this point, the RTIA and the minister contradicted one another.

The RTIA said new regulations are forthcoming, while the minister maintained that the regulations published in 2008 remain in force.

The minister’s legal representative pointed out that it is the minister who has the authority to issue regulations, and therefore her position should prevail.

Amendments finalised

Experts who spoke to Moneyweb, however, said the 2008 regulations cannot adequately give effect to the current law. The act was amended in 2019, and the old regulations are not aligned with the amended legislation.

In addition, new provisions introduced by the Aarto Amendment Act are not addressed in the 2008 version.

Among other things, the regulations determine which offences are punishable under Aarto, the fines and demerit points applicable to each offence, and the prescribed forms that must be used to administer the system.

A source with inside knowledge at the RTIA said the new regulations have already been finalised and could even be published in the Government Gazette before midnight on Tuesday.

The expectation is that the remaining municipalities will be required to transition to Aarto by September and that the demerit points system – which could ultimately result in repeat offenders losing their driving licences – will come into operation once the act is in force nationwide.

Salga Public Transport and Roads Working Group chair, Councillor Sebang Motlhabi, said in a statement: “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.”

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.