Rules about traffic fines and roadblocks in South Africa
South African motorists are not obligated to pay traffic fines if stopped at a roadblock. However, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla says motorists should pay when pulled over for several reasons.
Speaking to eNCA, Fihla said paying traffic fines when offered the chance at roadblocks makes it easier for motorists to skip long queues and avoid having their licence disc and licence card applications blocked.
“We hold roadblocks in the City of Joburg for different purposes; one could be for crime prevention services, for traffic violations, for drunken driving, and also for outstanding traffic fines,” said Fihla.
“Within the City of Johannesburg, the JMPD is using the Aarto system, and we are advising motorists to pay their traffic fines, but at a roadblock that is manned by the JMPD, you’re not obliged or forced to pay the traffic fine on the spot.”
He explained that failing to pay a traffic fine on time will result in it becoming an enforcement order, which blocks motorists from renewing their driving licence and their licence disk.
“With these roadblocks for outstanding traffic fines, it is an initiative from the city to ensure that we bring services to the people,” said Fihla.
“When you go to testing centres to enquire and to pay, you find that there are long lines, and it does become an inconvenience.”
However, it should be noted that many online platforms in South Africa, including PayCity, FinesSA, the City of Cape Town, and various banks, allow users to pay traffic fines online without waiting in queues.
According to data from various law enforcement authorities and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), Joburg’s JMPD issued the most traffic fines of any major metro in the country in 2023.
The JMPD issued motorists 3.3 million fines during the year, generating R46.9 million in revenue through payments. However, R945 million worth of traffic fines went unpaid.
The controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act aims to penalise traffic violations, legalise the serving of fines via email, and introduce a demerit system that could strip repeat offenders of their driver’s licences.
However, municipalities have warned that Aarto could hurt the revenues they collected through traffic fines.
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage believes that while the Aarto demerit system must apply nationally, municipalities should maintain the right to manage their own traffic violations, from processing them to collecting revenue.
“The recent ConCourt judgment ruled that it is not unconstitutional for the National Department of Transport to apply Aarto in all municipalities,” Duvenage said.
“The problem is that a driving licence point demerit system applied nationally, does not need to usurp the fine collection process at municipal level.”
However, he noted that authorities didn’t consider this when designing Aarto. It is rigid in this aspect, which could cause conflict when some municipalities continue their own traffic fine collections.
His thoughts came after Outa lost its legal bid to declare the Aarto system unconstitutional.
Then-chief justice Raymond Zondo issued the ruling in July 2023, giving the scheme the green light.
“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 RTMC,” said Zondo.
“This court has concluded in this judgment that Parliament had the competence to pass the Aarto Act.”
Outa said that just because the Constitutional Court had declared the law valid and constitutional doesn’t make it practical.
It said the scheme is impractical because it cannot address the root cause of accidents, the risk of corruption, and “administrative cumbersomeness”.
It added that e-toll was legal but still “failed spectacularly”.