Johannnesburg - The Road Traffic Infringement Agency is about to be taken to court to face questions over whether most of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences fines sent under the Aarto Act could have been illegal.
On 29 October the Justice Project South Africa served a legal letter on the registrar of the RTIA, Japh Chuwe, stating that most Aarto fines, courtesy letters and enforcement orders sent under the Aarto Act since 2008 were not served by registered mail, as prescribed by the act.
Instead, they have been served through a different service of the Post Office known as hybrid mail.
The only exception would be those fines issued to motorists immediately by a traffic officer at the roadside at the time of the alleged infringement. The JPSA letter, which The Star has seen, demands that the RTIA immediately cease posting documents through hybrid mail and that it use registered mail.
The letter demands that the RTIA instruct issuing authorities to cease using hybrid mail, that all unlawfully sent documents be cancelled and that the RTIA present a plan to show how those who have paid be refunded.
It states that if these demands aren’t met within seven days, the JPSA will proceed with legal action against the RTIA.
UNLAWFUL FINES
Recently, at round table discussions held by the RTIA on motorist rights and responsibilities, Howard Dembovsky of the JPSA said the agency had not been complying with the act.
Section 30 (1) of the Aarto Act states that all documents which are required to be served must either be served in person or by registered mail.
in 2014 the Public Protector found that the Johannesburg metro police department had acted unlawfully and engaged in maladministration because it used ordinary mail to post Aarto infringement notices between June 2010 and December 2012. The fines were deemed unlawful, and although the Public Protector didn’t order it, all outstanding unlawful fines were cancelled in April this year.
At the discussions, Dembovsky said that in its annual report, the RTIA had announced a dramatic rise in enforcement orders issued over the past year - an increase of 1183 percent from 46 267 enforcement orders to 593 713.
An enforcement order is issued when an infringement notice and courtesy letter have been issued and served, and have not been responded to within 40 days. Once an enforcement order is issued, a motorist cannot renew their vehicle licence or driving licence until the fine and fees are paid, or the enforcement order is revoked.
19 MILLION DOCUMENTS UNLAWFULLY POSTED
Through the RTIA’s annual reports, Dembovsky alleges that more than 19 million documents have been unlawfully posted since 2010. There is no data available for 2008 or 2009. This is, at its lowest estimate, fines worth R4 billion.
“One reason why many people don’t pay their fines could be because they never receive the original infringement notice, or it arrives too late. This is undoubtedly because the workings of the hybrid mail service are materially and functionally different from registered mail,” he said.
“Often, by the time a motorist receives a notification to collect an infringement notice, it has already been returned as undelivered.”
Fakazi Malindzisa of the RTIA said the agency had been using the hybrid mail service as it enables organisations to lodge their mail electronically, and the data is then processed and printed.
“The printed mail is then processed via the SA Post Office,” he said.
MILLIONS WASTED
We reported in February that only four percent of motorists were paying the Aarto fines being piloted in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
At the time, the Johannesburg metro police department was spending R16.5 million a month - R9.5 million for sending of the fines by registered mail and R7 million to the contractor operating the speed cameras - knowing the money would never be recouped.
This is because the Road Traffic Infringement Agency is not sending out courtesy letters for the collection of the fines, as required by law.
In terms of Aarto legislation, the RTIA should be sending out courtesy letters within 32 days of the JMPD fines being sent and not paid. Thirty-two days after that, it should issue an enforcement order.
Once that is issued, the motorist cannot renew his or her car or driving licence, register a new vehicle or do any transaction on the eNatis system. If, however, the courtesy letters are not sent, the fines are deemed defective as the correct procedure wasn’t followed.
The Star
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