Despite several issues being raised with the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act by several parties, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) says there are no outstanding problems with the system.
Speaking to ITWeb this morning, senior manager ofNationalEnforcementCo-ordination, Ashref Ismail, said the only outstanding issue is public education. “There were issues with the system and training, but all of that has been sorted out. It's just public education now. They need to understand the Act, how it works, what the implications are, and what it hopes to achieve, which is road safety first.”
This is despite the Justice Project SA (JPSA), the Road Freight Association and several other parties highlighting gaps in the upcoming points demerit system for drivers.
Many holes
Going against the Act, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) issues infringement notices via normal post, when this should be done via registered mail, thereby nullifying those notices. Also, the Act has been shown to violate the Constitution, by the JPSA.
Asked about the issue of the JMPD delivering infringement notices via normal post, Ismail says the RTMC has engaged with the JMPD on this matter and is waiting for its response. “Initially they had indicated this was being done with cost as the biggest factor, but their actions are not within Aarto. It is not right.”
JPSA national chairman Howard Dembovsky says the organisation also has many examples of infringements not being logged on the system in time so that when drivers go to pay fines they know they have gotten, they are told it doesn't exist on the system.
“There are no outstanding issues with Aarto? So I suppose they have appointed sheriffs, their accounting systems work, the JMPD is issuing notices using the correct procedures and all fines are logged on the system within the expected timeframes.”
Summit defragments
Transport minister Sibusiso Ndebele this week said there is no expected rollout date for Aarto.
A national summit was supposed to be held before implementation could take place. This was to avoid the e-tolling problem, and consult with all interested parties before the system goes ahead.
However, Ismail now says the national summit will not take place. In its place will be provincial workshops, starting with the Western Cape this month and then all the rest.
“Once the workshops are held and there is total confidence in the system from all role players, the public education programme will happen. Subsequent to this, the minister will announce a date for implementation.”
“I am grossly disappointed they decided to cancel the summit. That's just delaying things and it will be exceedingly costly to host several instead of one where all the points of contention could have been dealt with at once,” says Dembovsky.
“Nothing else has been done correctly under Aarto so I'm not surprised. We're trying to apply first world policies in a third world country. We're just going to go back to the consultation that Sanral (SA National Roads Agency) undertook for e-tolling. People are asked to make written submissions and then don't even know if they are considered in the end or not.”
Zero irregularity
Ndebele also said the troubled RTMC's board and permanent CEO will be appointed soon. The post of CEO was advertised a few weeks ago with a closing deadline of 5 March, so the recruitment process will have now commenced, according to Ismail. “We cannot give an exact date. The appointment can take any time up to five months from now. But I am almost certain it will happen this year.”
“The challenges at the RTMC have been tormenting since its inception. The RTMC has had, in a period of seven years, four different CEOs. It therefore follows that the stability of the entity has always been suspect,” said Ndebele.
In February 2010, the minister ordered an investigation into the Aarto manager. The investigation uncovered gross financial mismanagement and the board's term was not renewed, and CEO Ranthoko Rakgoale, along with four other executives, was suspended. There had been R360 million irregular expenditure, which included R200 million irregular use of eNatis transaction fees, which were supposed to be paid over to the department.
“The turnaround of the RTMC has been a daunting task that together as the shareholders' committee and the portfolio committee we have been monitoring and evaluating from time to time. We have seen improvements in various areas, among others the control environment, the supply chain environment and the realignment of the RTMC to its core business as defined in its founding legislation.
“We have seen the reduction of the irregular expenditure to zero from the reported R360 million in the previous year, and we have also seen stability and improvements in delivery,” said Ndebele.
The shareholders' committee on Monday agreed to finalise the appointment of the board and a full time CEO.
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