April 1 has come and gone, but no sign of the national roll-out of the administrative adjudication of road traffic offences (Aarto) system. The last public announcement of this official deadline date was made last July, but since then, according to Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of truckers’ body, the Road Freight Association (RFA), a quieter word from the minister of transport, Sibusiso Ndebele, was that the date “will be during the 2011/12 financial year” (April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012). But it certainly hasn’t been on April 1, according to Rosina Maloto, Aarto information officer at the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) – the body overseeing the new system. “We’re waiting for the minister to announce the date,” she said – confirming that the 11/12 financial year was all they had to go on at present. Kelly added that he had heard that discussions were still under way about the technicalities of introducing the system – related to the electronic uploading of infringement information, and the online, real-time updating of transactions onto the National Contraventions Register.
