Aarto 'nightmare' for W Cape

2010-06-03 14:30

Cape Town – Western Cape authorities said they will face a logistic nightmare if they have to implement new traffic legislation without proper preparation.

Their claim follows an announcement by national Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele that sections of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (Aarto) will be extended to the province from next month.

The provincial and city governments said in a joint statement on Thursday that Ndebele should postpone the move until all measures were "properly in place".

City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety JP Smith said the city was concerned about issues including the readiness of information technology systems and legal challenges.

Provincial Transport Minister Robin Carlisle said the Western Cape was wary of implementing Aarto's demerit system without first resolving all the problems that had been identified.

"We are of the firm view that we will be consciously setting ourselves for failure if we proceed with the implementation of the system without being fully prepared to do so," he said.

There had been "chaos" over the demerit system after Aarto was introduced in Tshwane and Johannesburg, and the province did not want to repeat the same mistake, Carlisle said.

His community safety counterpart Lennit Max said it would be "a logistical nightmare" for law enforcement authorities to implement the system without first resolving all the concerns raised.

- SAPA