23 July 2026 | 11:43 CAT
2-minute read

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has filed an urgent High Court application to suspend Phase 2 of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) system, warning that motorists could be unfairly penalised for traffic offences they did not commit due to structural flaws in the legislation.

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said the AARTO Act makes the registered owner of a vehicle liable by default for fines and demerit points, even if someone else was driving at the time of the offence. With number plate cloning becoming increasingly common in South Africa, he warned that innocent motorists could receive fines and demerit points linked to cloned vehicles.

Duvenage stressed the importance of redirecting traffic fines to the actual driver.

“It’s very important that all fines are redirected to the driver. If you don’t, it’s going to accumulate on the driver,” he said.

Motorists who were not driving at the time of an infringement must submit Form AARTO 03, together with the driver’s personal and licence details, to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) within 32 days of receiving the notice. The RTIA can then cancel the original infringement notice and reissue it to the correct driver.

However, the RTIA has come under criticism from civil action groups, municipalities and legal experts, who argue that it lacks the administrative and technological capacity to process the expected national volume of traffic infringements under Phase 2.

“Even if you do redirect, if RTIA is not efficient and does the redirections, then you have a problem, and we know that they are inefficient,” Duvenage said.

He also warned that the absence of the independent AARTO Appeals Tribunal leaves motorists with no external avenue to challenge disputed infringements.

OUTA and other civil society organisations have further criticised the Department of Transport for publishing the final AARTO regulations on June 30, just one day before Phase 2 came into effect. Duvenage argued that the late publication denied motorists, businesses and fleet operators a meaningful opportunity to comment on or prepare for the new regulations.

Saying there were no remaining administrative or political avenues to address these concerns, OUTA filed its application in the Pretoria High Court on July 15, 2026, seeking to halt implementation of the regulations.

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) also launched an urgent High Court application in late June to interdict the rollout, arguing that municipalities are neither operationally nor financially prepared to implement the system.

“The municipalities are a big partner in this. If they’re not ready, if their administration is not up to par, then the scheme fails before it even gets started at the municipality,” Duvenage said.

OUTA has also warned that unless the system is substantially improved, it risks failure and could create new opportunities for corruption. While the RTIA maintains that electronic processing will reduce cash bribery, critics argue that the demerit point system could encourage larger roadside bribes from motorists seeking to avoid licence suspensions. They also warn that reliance on centralised databases and large-scale private contracts may increase the risk of procurement corruption, digital fraud and manipulation of electronic records.

The application is awaiting a hearing date. Until the court rules otherwise, Phase 2 of the AARTO system remains in force in the designated municipalities.

Listen to the full interview with Wayne Duvenage on Sabaahul Muslim, presented by Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.