The Constitutional Court will on Tuesday hear an application by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) for the confirmation of an order made by the High Court in Pretoria, declaring the AARTO Act and the Amendment Act unconstitutional and invalid.
The High Court handed down its judgment earlier this year.
AARTO is the legislation that provides for the penalising of drivers and operators of motor vehicles guilty of traffic or road infringements through a system of demerit points which may lead to the suspension and ultimately the cancellation of driving licences.
OUTA will contend that the judgment of the High Court was correct and that it must be upheld. The Minister of Transport, the Road Traffic Management Authority and the Road Traffic Management Corporation are opposing OUTA’s application.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula contends that the matters dealt with in AARTO and the Amendment Act fall within ‘road traffic regulations’ which he contends falls within the concurrent legislative competence of both Parliament and provincial governments.
He submits that AARTO regulates and provides for road traffic regulation and he contends that there is no provision in the Constitution that confers exclusive legislative competence to any sphere of government in respect of road traffic regulation.
Obey laws of the road despite ruling
At the beginning of this year, OUTA called on motorists to continue following the rules of the road despite the AARTO Act having been declared unlawful.
Executive Director of the Accountability Division at OUTA Advocate Stefanie Fick cautioned against reckless driving.
“This doesn’t mean that all of a sudden people can drive however they want and it does not promote lawlessness. The crimes are still there, and you can’t drive recklessly and negligently. You can’t park wherever you want. We still need legislation in this country that the department can administer, that is rational and that is fit for purpose. They thought that Aarto would curb road deaths and it would promote road safety and it is an elaborate administrative system that right from the start, I think, was just impractical.”
