Roads demerit scheme meant for July 1: is it ready and will it make a difference?

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called on the government to clarify whether the next phase of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) system will proceed as scheduled on July 1.

The civil action group said the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has yet to demonstrate the controversial system, which will include a licence demerit points system, is ready.

After several delays and court challenges over the past two decades, the controversial new system to deal with traffic offences was to have been introduced in phases starting on December 1, with the licence demerit points system scheduled to have gone live countrywide on September 1 2026. Transport minister Barbara Creecy postponed the first phase from December 1 to July 1 2026 due to some municipalities not being ready.

Aarto is the government’s plan to replace the existing criminal system with an administrative one. With Aarto drivers will be allocated points for offences and face suspension or cancellation of their licences if they accumulate too many, in addition to any penalty fee payable. If this happens repeatedly, the licence is cancelled and the driver must, after a prescribed period, redo their learner’s and full driving tests from scratch.

Outa said this week the rollout remains clouded by uncertainty, with no comprehensive readiness report or implementation plan released and key regulations outstanding days before the planned expansion.

The latest phase has also come under pressure after several municipalities approached the courts seeking to halt the rollout, arguing they are not operationally or financially prepared to implement the system.

The government cannot keep telling South Africans tAaarto is ready while municipalities are heading to court, the regulations required to implement the next phase have not been finalised, and one of the system’s key operational partners, the South African Post Office, remains in business rescue,

—  Wayne Duvenage, Outa CEO

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

The department of transport postponed the nationwide rollout from December 2025 after acknowledging shortcomings in municipal readiness, officer training, systems integration, back office capacity and funding. Outa said there had been little evidence these issues had since been resolved.

“The government cannot keep telling South Africans Aaarto is ready while municipalities are heading to court, the regulations required to implement the next phase have not been finalised, and one of the system’s key operational partners, the South African Post Office, remains in business rescue,” Duvenage said.

Outa also questioned the government’s reliance on the Post Office to serve infringement notices and other legal documents required under Aarto, arguing its ongoing financial and operational difficulties cast doubt on whether the system could function efficiently and fairly.

The organisation said motorists, businesses and municipalities lacked clarity on which municipalities would participate, whether RTIA’s systems had been fully tested, how objections and appeals would operate and what compliance requirements would apply under the expanded regime.

Outa reiterated its longstanding position that road safety problems stem from weak law enforcement, corruption within parts of traffic policing, deteriorating road infrastructure and inconsistent prosecution, rather than shortcomings in the administrative system governing traffic infringements.

“You cannot administrate your way to safer roads,” Duvenage said. “Road safety depends on visible policing, effective law enforcement and consistent prosecution.”

The organisation also argued that the decade-long Aarto pilot in Johannesburg and Tshwane had failed to produce convincing evidence that the system significantly improved road safety or reduced fatalities.

It urged the government to publish the outstanding regulations and allow sufficient time for public consultation and operational preparation before proceeding with the next phase of implementation.