Pretoria - MMC for Community Safety, Grandi Theunissen, is mulling over the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic offences Act (Aarto), particularly on how it will affect metro police operations.
Theunissen has, therefore, undertaken to consult with the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) to deliberate on its impact on traffic policing.
He announced his stance in the wake of last week’s Constitutional Court ruling that the Aarto legislation is constitutionally valid in a legal challenge to the law lodged by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).
The civil action organisation had brought an application calling on the Concourt to confirm the Pretoria High Court’s judgment of November 2022 that the Aarto legislation was unconstitutional and invalid.
Theunissen said: “This legislation will eventually make provision to penalise drivers and operators of motor vehicles who are guilty of road infringements.”
Given that traffic policing was the TMPD’s core mandate he would “engage the department to establish how this ruling will affect their operations going forward”, he said.
“Furthermore, as the act was piloted in Tshwane, among other places, we are in a perfect position to provide valuable input before the legislation is rolled out throughout the country,” he said.
The metro was ready to comply and start the necessary processes “to ensure that once the legislation is fully rolled out, we can easily adjust and continue to provide our residents with valuable traffic policing services”.
Meanwhile, Outa noted that Aarto’s implementation would be a struggle for the government “due to the red tape and potential for corruption”, and it is concerned that Aarto “has already failed to improve road safety”.
Outa’s executive director, advocate Stefanie Fick, said: “We are disappointed with the Concourt’s decision but abide by its ruling. Outa believes that measures to improve road safety and reduce fatalities are urgently needed. However, we don’t believe the Aarto Act will achieve this, it’s just not practically possible. South Africa needs effective processes that comply with the Constitution.”
Pretoria News