Red flags over South Africa’s new driving laws

The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has gone radio silent on the tender issued for a private contractor to implement and operate South Africa’s new driving laws.

The  Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) was initially scheduled to rollout across the country’s major municipalities on 1 December 2025, but this has since been delayed to 1 July 2026.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the Department of Transport published a tender on 8 December 2025 for “Appointment of a turnkey contractor” to launch and operate core AARTO services for five years (60 months).

The tender was supposed to close on 3 February 2026, but the deadline was later pushed back 13 February.

Our sister publication MyBroadband contacted the RTIA to inquire why the state is seeking a private contractor to support AARTO when there should be sufficient internal capacity to manage it. However, it did not respond by the time of publication.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has also raised concerns about the sudden need for a private contractor, considering that AARTO has been in development for almost 16 years.

Outa said it was a worrying sign that South Africa supposedly doesn’t have the resources to introduce and enforce AARTO on its own.

The group has formally written to the RTIA chairperson, Bonolo Ramokhele, and Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to highlight these concerns.

“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,” it said.

A primary concern of Outa’s is that the tender will effectively duplicate capacity by awarding a contract for services that are already covered by existing entities, translating to unnecessary operating costs, more complicated logistics, and weakened institutional capacity.

The other issue flagged by Outa is the potential conflict of interest stemming from letting private commercial incentives into a system that manages traffic fines.

Wayne Duvenage, Outa’s CEO, warned that letting private entities benefit from administrative process like speeding fines creates perverse incentives and eroded 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 RTIA and Department of Transport to urgently explain the rationale for the tender, clarify why existing internal capacity has been overlooked, and make the business case public.

“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.”

South Africa’s driving laws have been in the works for nearly two decades

AARTO was first introduced in Pretoria as a pilot project in July 2008, with Johannesburg receiving the system a few months later in November 2008.

The new driving laws were meant to be implemented nationwide years ago, but the rollout has been delayed several times, most recently in December 2025.

The department explained that it had conducted a readiness assessment for these municipalities and found several deficiencies, prompting it to delay the launch to 1 July.

It added that it will soon publish the new staggered release date for the system’s launch.

Under the original plan, the country’s remaining 144 municipalities would have implemented AARTO on 1 April 2026, and the controversial demerit licence point system would have launched on 1 September.

Assuming the department follows a similar timeline for the new staggered launch, AARTO’s rollout will likely be completed onlyin mid-to-late 2027.