Monde Mkalipi, the spokesperson of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), insists challenges around municipal funding, the Post Office and stakeholder buy-in won’t stop the controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) rollout.
You mentioned in an interview a year ago that there was “absolutely no pushback” from municipalities. But SALGA launched an urgent matter in court to halt AARTO. With the rollout now official, despite many stakeholders not being happy, did the RTIA bulldoze its way through to get what it wanted?
No, this was a consultative process. It is not about what RTIA wanted. It’s a stakeholder-involving process.
We have taken note of the matters some of our stakeholders have raised and there are platforms to resolve such.
What are those issues?
For example, the matter with SALGA around the funding model. It’s a matter we are paying attention to.
Processes are in place with the Department of Transport to resolve those issues.
The funding issue is that it will cost local municipalities far more than they will ever recover from traffic fines. What is on the table by RTIA to resolve that issue?
Our view is that this could be much better if issues could be raised in the platforms that are established.
We are hoping that SALGA would utilise such platforms also to their benefit.
We are fully aware of the issue of the split of revenue collections. If we need to go there, let’s look at that aspect and break it down and agree on the percentage that should be allocated to some of our partners, and how much should be utilised by RTIA.
What I’m hearing is that there is still a lot of engagement to be done. The problem is that AARTO is now being implemented and rolled out. Money has been forked out for that. There have also been numerous delays. Shouldn’t all of this have been sorted out ages ago?
I wouldn’t take that posture to say that other stakeholders should have raised these matters before, because we’ve had an open-door policy.
AARTO is a relatively new policy; there will be a few teething problems, including this one on the funding.
But we wouldn’t want to say why these matters were not raised two years ago or six months ago when the [Transport] Minister [Barbara Creecy] announced the rollout date of 1 July. We wouldn’t want to go back there to say why colleagues didn’t raise it then or on any other date.
From the side of RTIA, the doors of engagement are open. This is a new area we are traversing, and let’s please utilise the platforms that have been created.
Are you saying that, one, these matters were not raised early enough? Two, there will be operational and teething issues, but the question remains: Shouldn’t all of this have been resolved before rollout? And three, I’m not sure the characterisation that AARTO is relatively new is correct. It has been around for at least a decade and has had numerous delays and battles, too.
We do acknowledge that there are challenges. But the challenges are not to the extent that the rollout of AARTO must be halted.
Our focus is now to roll out AARTO successfully, and those challenges that keep coming up – we are going to have them addressed.
But our focus now is on the implementation of AARTO for road safety.
Since the merits of the case that SALGA lodged were not aired in court, has RTIA prepared for the possibility that the court favours SALGA and AARTO is stopped?
The challenges that are coming up now, we don’t view them as something that can lead to AARTO being halted.
The challenges can be resolved, and still have AARTO being implemented.
As you understand, the one issue with the funding model is not a matter that can lead to the stopping of AARTO. This issue can be resolved by sitting around a table with stakeholders and thrashing it out.
The RTIA has mentioned before that 75% of sites across the 60 municipalities are fully equipped, and people have been trained. That means 25% are not fully equipped or trained. Is the RTIA now fully ready?
Yes, we are ready.
The 60-plus two municipalities [Tshwane and Johannesburg rolled out before] are 100% ready for the rollout.
We may not be ready with the 200-plus municipalities yet, but the ones for the rollout now are ready.
Yes, we now have a 100% rate in training, connectivity, stationery and equipment.
Even the agreement of the Post Office has been done.
You raise another issue that has come up from stakeholders around the Post Office. It is in business rescue and faces severe operational challenges. How is RTIA going to guarantee that this system won’t fall apart because the Post Office is falling apart?
We’ve been working with the Post Office for some time.
The issue of the delivery of notices is now resolved because it will be done electronically. So, all those issues are resolved because we learned from Tshwane and Johannesburg.
That’s why I’m saying we are 100% ready for this rollout.
If the Post Office does collapse and fail, is there an alternative?
No, we don’t think that Post Office will collapse – not at all.
We are confident that it will deliver what it needs to with the implementation of AARTO.
Some Western Cape municipalities were granted an exemption for this second phase of the rollout. Why were they treated differently?
No, they were not treated differently.
Most of the municipalities in the Western Cape opted to come in at phase three.
Were other municipalities also allowed to apply for the exemption for this phase?
No, there’s no exemption that has been granted to any municipality in this process.
It was all about the consultations that we have been doing.
To go back to the funding, where does the money for this rollout come from?
It comes from the Department of Transport. And we receive our allocation from the department.
And the municipalities that have to implement this, where are they getting the money from?
One of the reasons the funding was deferred from December to July 2026 is for municipalities to be able to effect a budget plan for AARTO.
The budget plan cycle for municipalities is starting now, from 1 July.
We understand municipalities have applied for funding or made budget reservations for AARTO.
