The Pretoria high court has declared that the Aarto Act, which includes the licence-demerit points system, was invalid and unconstitutional.
Judge Annali Basson found in favour of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and agreed with Outa’s position that the legislation unlawfully intrudes upon the exclusive executive and legislative competence of the local and provincial governments envisaged in the constitution, preventing local and provincial governments from regulating their own affairs.
Outa challenged the constitutional validity of Aarto and the Aarto Amendment Act, and asked the court in October to declare both the main act and the amendment act unconstitutional.
The respondents in the case were the minister of transport, the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, the Road Traffic Infringement Authority (RTIA) and the Appeals Tribunal. The court ordered the transport minister and the RTIA to pay Outa’s costs, including the costs of two counsel.
Outa and the Automobile Association (AA) have raised concerns about Aarto for a number of years, saying the legislation would not assist with the curbing of road traffic fatalities in SA.
Traffic violations are currently handled as criminal offences, but the Aarto Amendment Act passed in 2019 sought to decriminalise most traffic violations and deal with them via an administrative, rather than criminal, process instead. SA records about 14,000 road deaths a year and Aarto is seen by the government as a way to penalise repeat driving offenders with a points demerit system. Drivers who collected more than 15 points would have their driver’s licence suspended, or eventually cancelled.
Aarto started its national rollout in a phased approach in July, with the licence demerit points system to have been implemented this year.
In her judgment, Basson concluded the following: “It therefore follows in my view that the Aarto Act and the Amendment Act must be declared to be inconsistent with the constitution in its entirety. It is therefore declared that the Aarto Act and the Amendment Acts are unconstitutional and invalid.”
Advocate Stefanie Fick, Outa’s executive director of the accountability and governance divisions, said the judgment would send the government back to the drawing board.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision. Outa believes that Aarto in its current format does nothing to improve road safety, nor does it reduce the scourge of road fatalities in SA,” she said.
“This time around, we trust the relevant departments will engage meaningfully with civil society to obtain our input when developing such important policies for the country.”
Fick added that the court’s judgment signalled another important win for civil society, and yet again pointed out that the government was out of touch with reality.
“It is unfortunate that government once again chose to ignore valid concerns and well-researched input, and pushed ahead with the amendment. Not only did they waste a lot of time, but also valid resources, as the Aarto rollout will have to be stopped while the act is once again amended and taken through the legislative process. Only then can it be implemented.”
Fick said the battle to protect motorists from the ill-conceived act was not yet over.
“Outa urges government to listen to the input given by organisations such as Outa when reviewing these acts. We can assure the public that we will carefully monitor the process to ensure that any revised Aarto acts are constitutional and truly aimed at increased road safety and saving lives.”
The transport department was unavailable for comment.
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