MOBILIZATION OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC INFRINGEMENT AGENCY (RTIA) TO BE CREATED UNDER THE ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION OF ROAD TRAFFIC OFFENCES (AARTO) ACT

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND
The lack of success in finalising road traffic offences is well known. Currently, this is a function of the Department of Justice. The courts in the country are overloaded, therefor not enough attention is paid to traffic offences.

Added to this is the vast difference in fines levied from one jurisdictional area to the next. The chief magistrate for an area has the authority to determine the fine that is imposed for each category of offence as long as the maximum amount for a spot fine is not exceeded. This leads to a lot of unhappiness amongst road users and law enforcement officers.

At the moment Law enforcement agencies have substantial resources tied up in the administration of traffic law enforcement. These resources can be better utilised in the interest of road traffic law enforcement. The cost to finalise an offence is a burden on the taxpayer, and offenders who unnecessarily frustrate the adjudication process do not pay the cost of finalisation of the adjudication of the offence.

Bribery and corruption are rife in the existing process of law enforcement and adjudication. The result of all the above mentioned problems is a total disregard for law and order which is the prime reason for road traffic accidents. The problems mentioned here were taken into consideration, together with any other identified problems, in designing a new system to address all these problems. The new system was enacted in the AARTO Act of 1998 published in September of 1998.

The AARTO Act was carefully designed so as not to violate any of an offender’s constitutional rights, such as the right to be heard in a court of law. The design of the system also took care of the practical realities of our country. The RTIA will be a very focused agency dealing solely with the adjudication of traffic offences. When compared to the functional responsibilities of the RTMC, the scope of the RTIA is very limited, but it will contribute significantly to the success of the RTMC.

At a MINCOM meeting the mobilisation measures were discussed and certain decisions taken. These measures can be grouped together under the following points:

Institutional mobilisation
Technical mobilisation
Financial mobilisation
Legislative mobilisation

This document will only deal with the mobilisation measures. All the important projects/tasks without which the RTIA can not be successfully established will be identified.

CHAPTER 2
DECISIONS BY MINCOM
the venue of the RTIA will be Pretoria;
an incremental approach will be followed with the implementation of the AARTO Act;
the first area in which the AARTO Act will be implemented is Pretoria;

the main purpose of the pilot project in Pretoria is to:

identify any shortcomings in the training material designed for the users and to hereby improve the appropriateness of the material
test the computer system to eliminate any bugs in the system
identify any deficiencies in the legislation and submit amendments to the Minister
ensure the effectiveness of communication with road users by evaluating their perceptions and knowledge of the system
determine the staff complement to run the system countrywide
start to measure the various fees in the legislation against real costs incurred

the requirements of the registrar and deputy registrar were removed from the legislation. The Minister of Transport must, according to the amendment approved by Parliament, publish the requirements in the Government Gazette
the funding needed for the development work to mobilise and support the RTIA over a period of 24 months, until such time as it is financially self- sustainable is estimated at R30 million. MINCOM decided that NDoT and the provinces should contribute to the funding.
the draft regulations first published in May 1999 were properly workshopped with role players and proposed amendments considered during the finalisation of the draft regulations. MINCOM approved the draft regulations and took note of the fact that it needs the approval of the Minister of Justice.

CHAPTER 3
SHORT TERM IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS TO KICK START THE RTIA
It is not desirable to put the whole Act in force at once, since certain preparations still need to be made. The Road Traffic Infringement Agency must however be established as a juristic person, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency Board must be established to control the Agency and the Registrar must be appointed to start the preparations for the full operation of the Agency.

3.1 The Minister of Finance must be consulted on whether section 13(5) and 13(6) should be put into force.

3.2 The President must sign two Proclamations putting into force the following sections of the Act and section 1 of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Amendment Act, 2000 (Act No. 24 of 2000):

Section 1 (Definitions);
Section 2
(Object of the Act);
Section 3
(Establish of Agency as juristic person and agency may do anything that is necessary to perform its functions in terms of any law, or as assigned to it by the Minister)
Section 5
(Subcontracting: The agency may, subject to the business plan approved by the board, appoint agents, or contract with any person)
Section 6
(Establishment of Road Traffic Infringement Agency Board)
Section 7(1)(a),
(c), (d), (f), 7(2)
(Functions of Board)
Section 8(1),
(2)(b), (c), (4)
(Appointment of Registrar)
Section 11
(Administrative staff and remuneration)
Section 13(1)(c),
(d), (e), (2), (3), (4)
(Financing of Agency) (See paragraph (1) about 13(5) and (6))
Section 14
(Bookkeeping and reporting)
Section 15
(Banking account)
Section 16
(Limitation of liability)
Section 34
(Minister may make regulations)

3.3 The agency must establish a national office (section 3(3)) and open a banking account with the approval of the Director-General (section 15). The Minister of Finance must also be notified of the establishment of the agency in terms of section 14(4).

3.4 The Minister of Finance must be consulted on the following issues (his agreement must be sought):

(a) remuneration of members of Board who are not in the full-time employment of the State (section 6(10));
(b) remuneration of administrative staff (section 11(2)) if necessary;
(c) approval of statement of estimated income and expenditure for financial year (section 13(3)).

3.5 The three persons to be appointed to the Board must be identified in terms of section 6 (1)(a) of the Act and their names must be published in the Gazette. The MEC’s must be notified at MINCOM that the names have been published and that they are invited to comment. SALGA, the Minister of Finance and Minister of Local Government and Provincial Affairs should be invited in writing to comment.

During the above procedure, the National Director of Public Prosecutors must be requested to nominate a Director of Public Prosecutions to the Board in consultation with the Directors of Public Prosecutions.

3.6 The Minister must appoint the members of the Board referred to in section 6(1)(a) and must appoint a chairperson in terms of section 6(7). The Minister must also determine the remuneration of the members of the board who are not in the employ of the State, in consultation with the Minister of Finance (section 6(10).

The Minister must publish a notice in the Gazette determining the qualifications and experience that the registrar of the Agency must have, in terms of section 8(1) of the Act as amended.

3.7 The members of the Board referred to in section 6(1)(a) and (b), must appoint the registrar. Perhaps this includes the publication of an advertisement calling for applications for appointment.

3.8 The registrar must draft a business plan (section 8(2)) which must be approved by the Board (section 7(1)(a)).

3.9 The Minister must determine the financial year of the agency. The Public Finance Management Act is relevant and must be adhered to. The financial year of the RTIA will run from 1 April to 31 March.

The registrar must submit a statement of estimated income and expenditure for the following year, to the Board for approval by the Minister acting in consultation with the Minister of Finance (section 13(3)).

3.10 Regulations prescribing the procedure for a contract as contemplated in section 5 should be drafted although it is not essential for the short term.

3.11 Secure and bank in the banking account of the RTIA the full amount required to finalise the preparation work and support the agency for a period of two years until the agency is financially self sustainable.

If steps 3.1 to 3.11 are not followed the RTIA cannot be established which will translate into the status quo been retained.

CHAPTER 4
Implementation projects to be completed before the RTIA can start with the administrative adjudication of road traffic offences. Note that the projects are not listed in order of priority.

4.1 The Act
Certain amendments to the Act have become necessary. These amendments must be approved and published.

Risk: If the amendments are not done and published before 1 July 2002 the full implementation of AARTO could be delayed. Consultation is mandatory. The essential amendments to the Act were already published

4.2 Regulations
Although draft regulations were approved, amendments are to be effected to the Regulations which were informed by a number of issues such as representations received, systems requirements which will make the whole system more user friendly and other practicalities. Regulations must be promulgated by February 2002

Risk: If the amendments are not effected the system will not be user friendly enough and will not take into account the input from the role players. We may loose the buy-in of role players and loss of confidence in the consultation process that was followed in the run-up to the publication of the draft regulations. Consultation is mandatory.

4.3 Systems software
This consists of the following sub- projects to:

translate the Act and Regulations into functional specifications
develop the design specifications
develop the software
develop interfaces to the various traffic contravention systems and NaTIS
do factory testing of the system

Risk: It will not be possible to perform this task if experts are not contracted by the Department. It is totally impossible to start with the adjudication process without the system being in place and fully operational. In essence the establishment of the RTIA without the implementation of the system is an exercise in futility. The systems specifications have been developed. The soft and hardware contract will be concluded before the end of October 2001 for completion by April 2002.

4.4 Manuals
Procedure and training manuals must be developed for the system.

Risk: Without proper training of the users the system will not be used efficiently. This could jeopardize the total system. Procedure manuals are used by trained operators to support them. These manuals are 80% complete

4.5 Communication (and Marketing)
This is a new system and road users must be prepared for the system. Communication must be countrywide to create an awareness amongst road users of the system. With the incremental approach a very focused communication approach must be followed in every area of implementation.

Risk: Opposition may be experienced from road users if they are not properly informed about the new system. Marketing of the RTIA has been included in a tender for the provision of this service. The tender documents have already been submitted to the State Tender Board for publication.

4.6 Training
Training on the new system of role players such as law enforcers, state prosecutors, court personnel and the agency personnel is critical. Information will also be given to magistrates.

Risk: The human resources may be inadequate to do the training at such a tempo that it keeps up with the deployment tempo. The training could eventually determine the tempo at which the deployment of the system could take place.

Traffic colleges do not have the capacity to do the training required for traffic officials. They will however be in a position to include training of the system into their curriculum so as to train newly recruited people who will become traffic officials. The Department has to contract consultants to assist with the training otherwise the deployment of the system will be severely hampered.

The Justice College expressed their willingness to train State Prosecutors and court personnel. The college seems to have the capacity to timeously train prosecutors and court personnel.

Risk: The timing of training. If training is done long before the system is deployed it will not be effective. The ideal situation is to train immediately before the system is deployed in an area.

4.7 Logistics
Logistics include a wide variety of things that should be done. Only the most important aspects are referred to.

4.7.1 Preprinted forms
Prosecution documentation will change substantially. Some forms prescribed in the Criminal Procedure Act will no longer be used for offences specified in the AARTO Act. Section 341 and Section 56 notices issued upon a road traffic contravention will be replaced by infringement notices.

Preprinted forms such as infringement notices must be printed and distributed to law enforcement agencies before deployment can take place in the area of jurisdiction of the particular law enforcement agency. Other forms such as courtesy letters, enforcement orders and other notices must be printed in advance and stocked by the RTIA

4.7.2 Printing house
Is it strongly recommended that a printing house is contracted to personalise the preprinted forms en masse. The data will be forwarded to the printing house in an electronic format.

4.7.3 Mailing house

It is possible to combine the mailing house and the printing house activities into a single contract. This however will be dictated by cost. It is suggested that tenders be called for one or both of the projects.

4.7.4 Post office

Different services should be investigated such as Secure Mail, Registered Mail, etc. with a view to concluding a contract with the Post office and to get a discount on high volumes.

Value for money must include aspects such as the level of certainty that mail is indeed reaching the offender.

Risk: The risk associated with the projects mentioned above is timing which could be wrong and the sensitivity of volumes, lower volumes will result in a higher unit cost for the services to be provided.

ESTABLISHMENT

Office accommodation to house the RTIA will depend on the number of transactions to be performed by the agency. Without an example of a similar business available elsewhere a flexible approach should be followed.

With electronic access available, all the representation officers do not need to be housed in the Agency. People, for example retired magistrates, could be contracted to attend to representations from their homes as long as they have a suitable computer and access to the Internet. Once the workload has stabilised at the Agency, final accommodation arrangements and appointment of personnel could be made.

Risk: If a flexible approach is not followed, too many personnel could be appointed. This could cause major problems for the agency. Similarly if a long-term contract is entered into for office accommodation, it could be problematic. The worst error for the agency to make would be to lock itself into a long-term contract for accommodation where the space available is more than the space required. The same principle applies to office systems.

PROGRAMME OF ACTION
Put the clauses into operation that mandates the following:
Appointment of the board.

Publish the names of the persons from the private sector to be appointed to the board by 21 September 2001.

Letter to the National Director of Public Prosecutions to request nomination of a director of public prosecutions to serve on the board by 21 September 2001.

Appoint board by 12 October 2001.

Appointment of the registrar.

Print the requirements for the post of the registrar by 17 September 2001