The City of Cape Town plans to largely avoid implementing the controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act, says JP Smith, Mayco member for safety and security.
Also read: Court declares Aarto Act ‘unconstitutional and invalid’
The country-wide implementation of the Aarto Act, which will come into effect on 1 July 2024, has been pending for 25 years. Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga says pilot projects have been running in Johannesburg and Pretoria for years, minus the point demerit system.
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The City of Cape Town (CoCT) has been vehemently opposed to Aarto for a long time. Smith notes that 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,’ he says. ‘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 says there is enough time before 1 July 2024 for other municipalities to adopt similar by-laws to avoid switching to Aarto. ‘If we see the RTIA is struggling with the administration and Aarto does not work, we will adopt by-laws to enforce speed limits as well.’
As reported by Moneyweb, the government has repeatedly announced implementation dates, only to postpone them. The latest delay follows the high court finding that Aarto is unconstitutional, although the Constitutional Court overturned this ruling in July.
The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) by the Department of Transport will be in charge of administering Aarto.
‘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 July 1, 2024, for the nationwide rollout of Aarto,’ says Chikunga.
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