Municipalities hit the brakes on new traffic laws in South Africa

Municipalities across South Africa are calling on the Department of Transport to halt the second phase implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO).

This Act seeks to completely overhaul the country’s driving laws by decriminalising traffic offences and streamlining traffic fine processes.

Phase 1 of AARTO, which focused on establishing specialised infrastructure for handling offences, completed implementation in September 2021.

While phase 2 was set to begin rolling out in December 2025, this was delayed, and the implementation date was moved to 1 July 2026.

Now with the start date fast approaching, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has approached the Pretoria High Court to stop the implementation on behalf of these municipalities.

While the organisation said it supports the overall goals of the Act, SALGA Chairperson for Public Transport Sebang Mothlabi raised concerns about how it will be funded.

“This is a good initiative,” Mothlabi said. “AARTO must be devolved to municipalities. Our concern is that there is no proper funding model. Local government is already financially burdened.”

“When you bring any good initiative to local government, it must be accompanied with a proper funding model to enable municipalities to execute such a function.”

Mothlabi said there had been a lack of proper consultation with SALGA, and that previous attempts to raise these concerns had been ignored by the national government.

The implementation of AARTO has experienced numerous delays since its initial rollout date in April 2010, with phase 3 currently expected later this year and phase 4 in 2027.

While the Department of Transport plans to carry ahead with the phase 2 rollout on 1 July, Mothlabi said SALGA fully expects to receive a response from the High Court before then.

“AARTO’s core function is not to issue traffic fines,” Mothlabi said. “Its core function is road safety, and to make sure that road users abide by the road laws.”

“How will AARTO function in executing its core mandate, and how will municipalities execute such a mandate, when there is no financial support when this function is devolved to municipalities?”

Municipalities are not ready

Aside from concerns over the lack of a clear funding model, the readiness of municipalities across South Africa for AARTO’s second phase has also been called into question.

AARTO has already been in place in the Johannesburg and Tshwane metropolitan municipalities for years, since the launch of the Act’s pilot in 2008.

Phase 2 of the rollout will bring the Act to 60 more municipalities across the country, including major metros such as Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Mangaung, and Buffalo City.

Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town will not implement the new laws on 1 July along with the rest of the Western Cape, due to ongoing operational disputes over preparedness.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has criticised the government for planning to continue with the rollout despite several municipalities claiming they are not prepared.

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said this is especially alarming considering there has not been a formal publication of the expected regulations or implementation plan.

“They’ve switched on the infringement process,” Duvenage said. “This is how they apply the act and the payment processes, and how you represent yourself if you are going to object.”

“But they haven’t switched on the demerit point system, or the fact that they are going to be suspending licences, or the fact that there’s supposed to be a rehabilitation programme.”

Duvenage described the implementation process as incredibly messy and said the Department of Transport was likely just trying to meet the deadline without actually being ready itself.

The South African Post Office has reportedly attempted to intervene in SALGA’s case against AARTO, a move which OUTA questioned, given the entity’s continued financial and operational challenges.

OUTA previously challenged AARTO in the Constitutional Court, arguing that municipalities have the right to manage their own traffic fines and regulations.

The Constitutional Court ultimately dismissed OUTA’s case, ruling that the legislation of AARTO was constitutionally valid and thus legally enforceable.

“I think it’s going to be met with more legal challenges and more delays,” Duvenage said. “We’ve said to the Minister and the RTIA in the past to sit down with these important stakeholders.”

“We want to work together with you to resolve these challenges. You cannot just legislate something into being. There are a lot of practicalities that have to be sorted out first that are not there yet.”