Tshwane to continue penalising motorists on demerit road system amid legal debacle
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula announced that the department would appeal the judgment of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria which ruled the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) act was unlawful.
The demerit transport system will continue being used in Tshwane to penalise motorists despite the legal debacle over the system which is ongoing.
Tshwane metro has over the past 13 years been part of the implementation of the new transport demerit system the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) (and amended) act.
This act was ruled unconstitutional and invalid on January 13 by the Gauteng high court in Pretoria.
Judge Annali Basson cited that the national department and parliament intruded on the exclusive power of the provincial and local governments when it implemented the act. The case against the department of transport was ensued by the civil rights organisation group, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
This legal debacle was set to continue when Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said the department would appeal the ruling last week.
Mbalula said he believed that the act was the department’s “final piece of the puzzle” at curbing road fatalities.
“Over this past festive season we saw some of the most heart-wrenching crashes claiming many lives in a single crash,” Mbalula said.
On January 12, a head-on coalition on the N1 highway near Mookgophong (Naboomspruit) in Limpopo claimed 17 lives and injured eight. Reports indicated that the bus was travelling from Bosman taxi rank in Pretoria to Limpopo when the fatal accident occurred.
“Aarto provides an adjudication system for infringements of the rules of the road traffic. Aarto is the final piece of the puzzle implementation of a new road traffic management system,” Mbalula said.
“The importance of Aarto in driving behaviour change of motorists and providing disincentives for unbecoming conduct cannot be over-emphasised.”
Tshwane metro MMC for Community Safety Grandi Theunissen said while the appeal was underway, the current Aarto legislation remained in place until a final ruling would be made by the Constitutional Court.
“It is important that residents note that current road and traffic legislation still apply and will continue to be implemented by our law enforcement teams,” Theunissen said.
Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) spokesperson Monde Mkalipi said Aarto implementation would continue until a judgment on the constitutionality of the act would be subjected to all due legal review processes.
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Despite the department’s indication to challenge the judgment, Outa senior legal project manager Andrea van Heerden said the organisation was to approach the Constitutional Court for the confirmation of the ruling.
“Any decision that invalidates provincial or parliamentary legislation or any conduct of the President must be confirmed by the ConCourt before it has any effect,” Van Heerden said.
“It is our belief that should Minister Mbalula wish to challenge this judgment, he will have to oppose Outa’s confirmation application in the ConCourt.”
The department allocated R215-million for the implementation of Aarto during the 2021/22 financial year.
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