Government must come clean on AARTO rollout as municipalities head to court

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) is calling on the Department of Transport and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) to urgently explain whether the next phase of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) will proceed as planned on 1 July 2026.

With only days remaining before the proposed rollout, government has yet to provide South Africans with the certainty they deserve. No comprehensive readiness report has been published, no detailed implementation plan has been released, and the regulations required to implement the next phase of AARTO have yet to be finalised and published for public consultation. Without these regulations, the legal and operational framework required to support implementation remains incomplete.

The silence is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

Adding to the uncertainty, several municipalities have now approached the courts to halt the rollout, arguing that they are neither operationally nor financially ready to implement the system. This raises serious questions about government’s repeated assurances that AARTO is ready to expand.

“This is no way to introduce legislation that will fundamentally affect millions of motorists, businesses and municipalities,” says OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage.

“Government has spent well over a decade trying to implement AARTO. Deadlines have come and gone, implementation dates have shifted, and each new deadline still brings the same uncertainty, poor communication, and unanswered questions. South Africans deserve certainty, not confusion.”

The Department of Transport previously postponed the December 2025 implementation after acknowledging shortcomings in municipal readiness, officer training, systems integration, back-office capacity and funding. Yet there has been little public evidence that these concerns have been resolved.

The latest court action by municipalities reinforces what OUTA has warned for years. Government cannot continue announcing implementation dates before demonstrating that the institutions responsible for delivering AARTO are genuinely prepared.

“Government cannot keep telling South Africans that AARTO is ready while municipalities are heading to court, the regulations required to implement the next phase have still not been finalised, and one of the system’s key operational partners, the South African Post Office, which plays a critical role in the AARTO process, remains in business rescue,” says Duvenage. “That’s not readiness. That’s wishful thinking.”

OUTA is also questioning government’s reliance on the South African Post Office to perform one of the key administrative functions within the AARTO process. The Post Office plays a central role in serving infringement notices and other legal documents required by the legislation, yet government has not explained how this critical statutory function will operate fairly and reliably while the Post Office remains in business rescue and continues to face significant operational and financial challenges.

“If one of the fundamental pillars of the AARTO system depends on an institution that is itself struggling to remain operational, government must explain how it intends to ensure that the system functions fairly, efficiently and lawfully,” says Duvenage.

For motorists, businesses, and municipalities, the uncertainty extends far beyond the implementation date itself. There is still no clarity on which municipalities will participate in the rollout, whether RTIA’s systems have been fully tested, what the final regulations will require, how objections and appeals will operate, or what businesses will need to do to comply. Millions of South Africans could soon be expected to comply with a system whose practical rules have yet to be finalised and whose implementation is now being challenged by the very municipalities expected to administer it.

Road safety needs better enforcement, not more administration

OUTA has consistently supported stronger action against dangerous drivers and meaningful measures to improve road safety.

However, the organisation remains unconvinced that AARTO, in its current form, addresses the root causes of South Africa’s road safety crisis.

The country’s high road fatality rate is driven by weak traffic law enforcement, corruption within parts of the traffic policing environment, deteriorating road infrastructure, dangerous driving behaviour and the lack of consistent consequences for offenders. These systemic failures cannot simply be solved by introducing a more complex administrative process.

“You cannot administrate your way to safer roads,” says Duvenage.

“Road safety depends on visible policing, effective law enforcement and consistent prosecution. Unless government can demonstrate that AARTO will materially improve road safety, it remains difficult to justify the enormous administrative burden and cost it places on municipalities, businesses and motorists.”

OUTA has long maintained that the decade-long AARTO pilot in Johannesburg and Tshwane failed to produce convincing evidence that the system materially improved road safety or reduced fatalities.

Outstanding regulations cannot become an afterthought

The legislation may be in place, but the regulatory framework required to support the July 2026 rollout is still incomplete. Government cannot reasonably expect municipalities, businesses, and motorists to prepare for implementation without first publishing the regulations and allowing sufficient time for public participation and operational readiness.

These regulations are not a procedural formality. They determine how significant parts of the legislation will operate in practice, including key administrative processes that affect motorists, municipalities and businesses. Publishing them only days before implementation or attempting to implement AARTO before they have been properly consulted on, would undermine administrative fairness and expose the rollout to further legal challenges.

Government must provide answers

If government intends on proceeding with the rollout, OUTA says the Department of Transport and RTIA should immediately publish: 

• The outstanding regulations for public consultation.

• A detailed implementation plan and rollout timetable.

• A comprehensive national readiness report.

• The final list of municipalities participating in the rollout.

• Clear guidance for municipalities, businesses, and motorists on how implementation will affect them.

• An explanation of how the South African Post Office will fulfil its statutory obligations under AARTO while it remains in business rescue

“If government and RTIA cannot answer these basic questions, they should stop pretending the country is ready,” says Duvenage.

“South Africans want safer roads. They want traffic laws that are enforced fairly and consistently. What they do not want is another rushed administrative system introduced without proper planning, consultation, and transparency. If government cannot demonstrate that it is genuinely ready, it should not proceed.”​

A soundclip from Adv Stefanie Fick, OUTA Executive of Accountability and Governance, is available in English and Afrikaans. 

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