The Department of Transport (DoT) has issued a tender for a contractor to outsource the rollout and administration of key functions of the incoming Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (Aarto).
The tender, which was published on 8 December 2025, is for the “Appointment of a turnkey contractor for the rollout and operation of the Aarto core services for 60 months”.
The initial closing date for the tender was set for 3 February 2026, but this was later extended to 13 February.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has criticized the tender, demanding to know why the DoT is outsourcing the operation of Aarto.
In light of this, Outa has formally written to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy and to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) chairperson, Bonolo Ramokhele.
“Outa is particularly concerned that the tender appears to outsource core administrative and enforcement-support functions that already exist within government,” Outa said.
“The Road Traffic Management Corporation, through the NATIS platform, already manages national traffic administration systems that interface directly with Aarto processes.”
It also warned that the rushed tender process carries serious implications for fairness, transparency, and competition.
“Outa questions whether this late extension meaningfully mitigates the risks created by the original compressed timetable and warns that the process remains rushed for a procurement of this scale,” saidthe organisation.
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage noted that allowing private entities to benefit from administrative processes linked to fines creates perverse incentives and erodes public trust.
“That is exactly what Aarto does not need. Traffic enforcement is not meant to operate as a profit-driven exercise,” he said.
The organisation is calling on the DoT and Creecy to urgently explain the reasoning for the procurement process.
It also wants the department to make the business case for the tender available to the public, and to explain why the state’s existing operations are being overlooked.
“Aarto already suffers from a credibility deficit,” said Duvenage. “Pushing through a complex, high-risk outsourcing deal under tight timelines only deepens public suspicion.”
“If this system is to be lawful, trusted, and effective, the procurement process must be beyond reproach.”
Aarto coming in 2026 – 18 years after it was unveiled
Aarto is set to go live in South Africa on 1 July 2026, but the system has been around for almost 20 years.
The traffic laws were originally introduced as a pilot programme in the Pretoria and Johannesburg metros in July and November 2008, respectively.
However, Aarto’s nationwide rollout has been postponed multiple times as a result of delays and preparation shortcomings at the municipal level.
Most recently, the DoT postponed Aarto in a statement in November 2025, citing that many municipalities were not ready to implement the new system by 1 December 2025.
The department explained that it found deficiencies in the finalisation of the required law enforcement and back office personnel.
It also found deficiencies in the harmonisation of the current law enforcement systems and municipal funding.
“The Department will soon publish the new proclamation with new staggered implementation dates, the 1 July 2026 being the official implementation date,” it said.
“The phased approach of implementation will still be maintained as initially envisaged.”
The new plan is for Aarto to go live on 1 July with a phased rollout that will launch the system across 69 major municipalities.
The country’s remaining 144 municipalities will then introduce Aarto several months down the line.
Under the original December timeline, Aarto’s controversial new demerit point system for driver’s licences would only be implemented on 1 September 2026.
However, the delay and the new July launch window likely means that Aarto will only be fully implemented by mid-2027.
