New AARTO launch date set for December

THE national launch date for the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) has been pushed back to December 2025, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has confirmed.

- JASON WOOSEY

This comes after Transport Deputy Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa, during the department's budget vote debate in Parliament, had announced October 1 as the go-live date.

RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi has now confirmed that the 69 municipalities, throughout the country's nine provinces, that are ready for its implementation would implement the AARTO system from the beginning of December, with the remaining municipalities set to follow at the beginning of 2026.

The controversial demerit points system that is a core feature of AARTO will only come into effect from September 2026 when the new enforcement framework enters its fourth and final phase, Mkalipi confirmed.

The RTIA said service outlets had been created across the country and over 25 000 traffic officers were currently being trained to implement the new system within the confines of the law.

Mkalipi said AARTO would decriminalise minor traffic offences in order to take strain off the courts. Rather than sending summonses to those who failed to pay their fines, which often do not even reach the courts, the new system would encourage compliance by blocking the renewal of vehicle and driving licences for those with outstanding fines.