South Africa’s new traffic fine laws will hit Cape Town where it hurts

The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will take money out of the City of Cape Town’s coffers to give it to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA).

This is according to Alderman JP Smith, the municipality’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, who added that the City would have no issue absorbing the new system.

“We anticipated this, so we have adapted our electronic systems — remember, we issue all of our fines now on digital devices. We are rapidly weaning ourselves off any kind of manual process — so absorbing Aarto is no big deal,” said Smith in an interview with Cape Talk.

“What it does do is it takes a share of the revenue of the City. So, it will take a chunk of money out of the City’s pocket.”

“That goes to the RTIA, which I don’t think is helpful, but that’s as it is,” he added.

However, he noted that the City’s applicable traffic bylaws will take preference over the Aarto system.

“The court ruling clearly says Aarto and national government cannot impose on the city’s legislative mandates,” said Smith.

“Where we have bylaws that are applicable, such as the city’s traffic bylaw, we may choose to use the bylaw provision instead of the national provisions.”

“We will, therefore, give preference to bylaw enforcement through the criminal justice system and then use the Aarto system for certain offences, like, for instance, speeding,” he added.

Smith explained that when the Aarto system was first implemented as a pilot in Gauteng’s metros, the City resisted rolling it out because it was “deeply problematic”.

However, the City will be forced to implement the new traffic laws by mid-2024.

“We aggressively resisted rolling it out because of all the problems it came packaged with,” said Smith.

“The court has ruled that, by the middle of the next year, we have to roll it out, which we will do.”

In early July 2023, chief justice Raymon Zondo ruled that the Aarto Act is valid, lawful, and won’t be scrapped.

South Africa’s highest court overturned the Pretoria High Court’s ruling that deemed the traffic laws invalid and unconstitutional.

“In a unanimous judgment written by me, the Constitutional Court has upheld the contentions advanced by the minister of transport, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency and the Road Traffic Management Corporation,” said Zondo.

“This court has concluded in this judgment that Parliament had the competence to pass the Aarto Act.”

The traffic laws aim to penalise traffic violations, legalise the servicing of fines electronically, and introduce a demerit system to strip repeat offenders of their driver’s licences.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) — the entity that brought the case against the Aarto Act to the Pretoria High Court — weighed in on the Constitutional Court ruling.

It explained that just because the ConCourt has deemed the act valid and constitutional doesn’t mean it’s practical.

“Remember, e-toll was legal, yet failed spectacularly,” it stated.

It sees the scheme as impractical as it can’t address the root cause of accidents, the risk of corruption, and “administrative cumbersomeness”.

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