How Cape Town plans to avoid implementing Aarto
The controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act with its points demerit system will take effect on 1 July 2024, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has confirmed.
However, the City of Cape Town has a plan to largely avoid implementing it within its area of jurisdiction, according to JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security.
The countrywide implementation of Aarto has been pending for 25 years, with pilot projects in Johannesburg and Pretoria running for years but without the points demerit system.
The Citizen reports that government has repeatedly announced implementation dates, only to postpone them later.
As previously reported, the latest delay came after a court found Aarto to be unconstitutional. This finding was, however, overturned by the Constitutional Court in July.
‘We have engaged with the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) to assess our state of readiness for (the) accelerated rollout of Aarto across all municipalities in the country. We are pleased that our progress on the eve of the constitutional challenge enables us to target 1 July, 2024, for the nationwide rollout of Aarto,’ Chikunga said.
However, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and various other role players in the transport industry are sceptical that the RTIA and other relevant government agencies will be able to cope with the significant administrative burden.
RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi confirmed the tribunal that will consider representations still has to be appointed, but progress is being made in this regard.
In addition, the nine provincial MECs for transport must sign off on the implementation.
The Citizen notes that the Western Cape’s is still outstanding. According to Smith, recent legislative amendments allow municipalities, where provincial laws or municipal by-laws cover the same contraventions, to elect whether they use those laws or Aarto for enforcement.
‘We got a legal opinion from senior (counsel) that confirms our interpretation. We have decided to use Aarto only for speed enforcement, but moving violations will be dealt with in terms of the provincial legislation and municipal by-laws,’ he said, adding that he believes there is enough time before the 1 July 2024 implementation for other municipalities to adopt similar by-laws to avoid switching to Aarto.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
