The South African Local Government Agency (SALGA) on Wednesday lost a court bid in the Pretoria High Court to stop the rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) programme.
This clears the way for phase two to proceed as scheduled as of 1 July.
SALGA argued that municipalities were not sufficiently prepared, the regulatory framework was incomplete, and the financial model underpinning phase two had not been resolved. The court struck the urgent application from the roll, finding that SALGA had failed to establish the urgency required for the matter to be heard on an expedited basis.
The court also found SALGA had not demonstrated that it was authorised to litigate on behalf of municipalities and held that courts should not lightly interfere with government policy decisions or the implementation of legislation.
Post Office to the rescue
As the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) launches phase two, the South African Post Office (SAPO) says it will be electronically distributing infringement notices.
“Using electronic communication channels, including WhatsApp, SMS, MMS and e-mail, motorists will receive secure, legally-served notices with improved speed, efficiency and traceability,” it says.
SAPO acting CEO Fathima Gany says the e-Reg platform, launched in September 2024, “has successfully provided customers with secure and legally-recognised electronic delivery of official notices”.
The post office is currently exiting the business rescue process it entered in 2023 and remains financially fragile. Under the terms of the business rescue plan, government provided SAPO with R2.4 billion when it entered business rescue and was meant to provide a second tranche of R3.8 billion, which never materialised.
Instead, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies provided a R350 million special allocation in May 2026 to ease immediate cash flow pressures, while also exploring whether part of a separate R700 million special appropriation could be directed to the Post Office. SAPO also received an emergency cash injection of R309 million to help pay salaries between November last year and this May.
Although SAPO is exiting business rescue, its practitioners have warned it remains at risk of liquidation without further government support.
“The strategic collaboration between RTIA and SAPO supports the national rollout of AARTO through a secure and scalable communication platform that strengthens governance, improves service delivery and enhances the customer experience,” RTIA says.
Long road to rollout
AARTO, without the demerit point aspect, has been in effect in Johannesburg and Tshwane as a pilot project since 2008. The system is now being rolled out across 62 local and metropolitan municipalities, building on that initial implementation.
The system was meant to be fully implemented by the end of last year, which would have seen the law rolled out in 69 municipalities from December. RTIA aimed to bring 144 municipalities onboard by end-2025, but the transport department postponed the rollout to July, announcing the delay on 10 November 2025.
This is not the first legal battle AARTO has faced. In 2022, the Gauteng High Court declared the legislation unconstitutional after a challenge by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), finding it unlawfully encroached on provincial and local government powers.
The Constitutional Court overturned that ruling in 2023, confirming Parliament had the authority to enact the legislation and clearing the way for nationwide implementation.
OUTA has argued that the system remains fallible because the Electronic National Traffic Information System database has not been cleaned up, the system is subject to corruption, and there is no technology in place for law enforcement to verify that an identity number matches the person against Home Affairs’ National Population Register.
RTIA says it is not aware of any incorrect information in the database, noting it is the motorist’s responsibility to ensure information is up to date. It says the necessary systems and processes are in place to ensure technological flaws and human error do not plague the system, and that control measures are in place to prevent corruption.
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