Non-profit organisation
Justice Project South Africa
(JPSA) has launched a high
court application to declare the
imposition of criminal records
for minor road traffic fines
“unconstitutional”.
Several traffic authorities
started enforcing Sections
57 and 57A of the Criminal
Procedure Act (CPA), 51 of
1977 last year. The regulation
holds that anyone who pays
an admission of guilt fine, or
is found guilty in court on a
summons or written notice,
gets a criminal record.
JPSA national chairperson
Howard Dembovsky explained
at one of the Ekurhuleni North
Chamber of Commerce &
Industry’s monthly functions
last week that drivers needed
to be cautious as
traffic officials
were using traffic
fines as a source
of revenue by
soliciting bribes.
He pointed
out that the vast
majority of traffic
fines were speed
camera fines and
accounted for
92.56% of the
Johannesburg Metro Police
Department’s 6 041 555
fines during 2013/2014. But
under the Administrative
Adjudication of Road Traffic
Offences. (Aarto), no criminal
records are imposed.
The application calls for
the minister of justice to
amend the CPA; the National
Prosecuting Authority to
cease such prosecutions; and
the minister of transport to
instruct all traffic enforcement
authorities to cease using such
prosecutions, said Dembovsky.
“The worse the perceived
consequences are, the more
likely people are to pay
bribes,” he said, pointing out
that if a criminal record or a
weekend in jail were at stake,
paying the bribe “almost
goes without saying”.
Dembovsky concluded
that the high court matter
was still undergoing
consideration and would
be attended to sometime
in 2016.
INSERT & CAPTION
Traffic officials are
using traffic fines as
a source of revenue
by soliciting bribes.
– Howard Dembovsky
