The Constitutional Court ruled against Outa in its bid to have the Aarto Act declared invalid and unconstitutional. File Picture: African News Agency (ANA) Archives
The Constitutional Court ruled against the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) to declare the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act invalid and unconstitutional.
The apex court delivered its judgment on Wednesday, essentially turning down Outa’s application.
"This court has refused to confirm the order of invalidity made by the high court, has upheld the minister’s appeal and set aside the order of the high court," said Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The defeat comes after Outa had won in January 2022 when the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria declared the Aarto legislation unconstitutional on two grounds.
First, it was that the legislation usurped the exclusive executive jurisdiction of local government to enforce laws relating to municipal roads, traffic and parking.
The second basis was that it usurped the exclusive legislative authority of the provincial legislatures.
Aarto is the legislation that provides for the penalising of drivers and operators of motor vehicles who are guilty of traffic or road infringements. This is done through a system of demerit points that may lead to the suspension and ultimately the cancellation of a driving licence. It establishes a single national system for enforcement.
Opposing the application, then transport minister Fikile Mbalula said the Aarto law should remain on the books, and wanted the ConCourt to overturn the high court ruling of invalidity.
Delivering the unanimous judgment, Zondo said that the Aarto Act fell within the concurrent legislative competence of both the national and provincial spheres of government.
Therefore, Parliament could pass the Aarto Act.
“One of the indications that this is a matter that falls within the national competence where the national sphere of government has concurrent legislative competence with the provincial spheres of government.
“In this case, since Parliament has competence legislation such as the Aarto Act, it cannot be said that Parliament had no power to make this law,’’ said Zondo.
Big things we did ny that dept of transport we scrapped etolls,We won against outta on AARTO,We started a massive paving and closing of potholes project ,We revstalised major job creation infrastructure project msikaba( n2 wild coast ) 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌👊👊👊👊 launched trains…
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Cde Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) July 12, 2023
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