Programme Director,
Chairperson & members of the Board Deputy Director-General: Mr Chris Hlabisa The Registrar, Mr Japh Chuwe
Senior Officials from the National Department of Transport Executive Management of the RTIA,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Introduction
A brand that is definitive;
A brand that carries significance;
A brand that is impactful and a brand that is able to deliver on the vision and mission.
The brand on point is The New Brand called the Road Traffic Infringement Agency - RTIA
Ladies and gentlemen;
How befitting, that we hold the Road Traffic Infringement Agency’s (RTIA) Media Launch during Africa month, in a year when we are celebrating 60 years of the Freedom Charter which strategically coincides with beginning of the Third Decade of our Freedom.
As we mourn the passing away of Ivulindlela, a veteran of the struggle, Isithwalandwe, our very own Mme Ruth Mompati; we acknowledge her outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle; specifically her resilient contribution to the women emancipation agenda.
For twenty one years in the democratic dispensation, the Government of the African National Congress have been and still are committed to the tenets of the Freedom Charter to moving this country forward.
As are a nation in action, siyaqhuba, siyasebenza! This assertion is evidenced by the work of our delivery machinery, our State Owned Entities like RTIA.
The work of the State Owned Entities confirm our intent and contributions towards improving service delivery and fast-tracking the Radical Transformation agenda; which is done through ground breaking innovative programmes and projects such as the one we are launching today.
Members of the media;
The Government recognises the urgency with which to address the ongoing scourge of unnecessary road deaths that continue to take the lives of active citizens.
South Africa as a UN member state, in made a firm commitment to half the road death toll and serious injuries.
To this effect we have introduced legislation and programmes with the aim to stabilize and reduce accidents on our roads. The first week in the month of May was identified by the United Nations to be observed as a Road Safety Week where different themes are heightened.
On the 4th of May 2015 we launched the 3rd United Nations Global Road Safety week themed Children Safety. Education and awareness “Save Kids Lives” campaign under the theme Children Safety have been rolled out nationally since the 4th of May and will continue until the end of the month. Furthermore, as of the 1st May 2015 Regulations on Child Restraint came into effect and compels all drivers to observe and ensure approved safety measures when travelling with children. It is important that all road users familiarize themselves with them.
Programme Director;
It is important to emphasise that road safety still remains everybody’s responsibility.
The road network is a common and shared resource to be enjoyed by all. To this end, we are continuously educating our road users with the requisite knowledge of safe driving and usage of our road infrastructure network.
The road traffic infringement agency (RTIA)
The RTIA is one of the key significant Roads State Owned Entities established by the Department of Transport. It is tasked with the responsibility of enforcing road traffic laws and inculcating a new habit of compliance; thus putting us in a position as a department to realise safer roads.
The pursuit of this mandate entails the management and rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of the Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO), which includes the implementation of the driver points demerit system and rehabilitation programmes.
During the media briefing of the Transport Budget Vote in Cape Town on Tuesday, 5th May, we made a pronouncement on the national rollout of AARTO with effect from 1 April 2016.
This is to provide for the remaining process to reach completion in respect of the AARTO Amendment Bill to be promulgated. The Amendment Bill is aimed to increase the efficiencies of the AARTO process that will address short comings that were identified in the pilot sites, thereby paving the way for a smooth national rollout process.
It is important to note that the days of non-compliance to road traffic laws without consequence are truly over.
The AARTO in itself will usher in a new and standardized process of addressing road traffic infringements throughout the country. This introduction of AARTO and the points demerit system is aimed at inducing voluntary compliance to road traffic laws on our roads. This process further requires active involvement of motorists in dealing with outstanding traffic infringements.
Having a driving license ladies and gentlemen of the media, is a Privilege not a Right because it belongs to the state. If a habitual infringer continues to break the road traffic laws, the state through the demerit points will be in a position to suspend or cancel a driving license once the points threshold have been reached.
To this extent, it is the RTIA’s mandate to embark on educating and empowering our road users to understand, internalize the AARTO system and inculcate a culture of road safety in their behaviour.
It is important to inform you that the RTIA has embarked on an active stakeholder participation process and has invited a plethora of stakeholders in this mammoth task of educating and empowering our road users. As a Shareholder, we are specifically proud of the efforts that the RTIA has undertaken in this engagement process.
The Agency is continuously engaging with the interfaith movement, comprising of all the various faiths represented in the country.
This is to ensure the participation of the religious and faith leaders in preaching the gospel of road safety every week in our country.
To this end, the Agency has further developed and is actively galvanizing the general public in education, through the Petition for a National Prayer Day for Road, which is envisaged to be declared and observed every year on the first Sunday in the month of October starting this year.
I urge you, the media, as our important and strategic stakeholder, to support this initiative and publish regular articles on the status of road safety and to direct our public to sign the petition. This can be done either physically or electronically on the Agency’s website, being www.rtia.co.za
Why rebrand the RTIA?
Programme Director;
When I started with my speech I said a brand must be impactful and it must be able to deliver on the vision and mission.
The RTIA as an agency has been faced with challenges of asserting its presence, especially in the operating municipalities in Gauteng.
Primarily, the Agency has constantly been confused with other entities of the department, in particular Road Traffic Management Corporation owing to the historical background of the RTIA being formulated at first as a function within the RTMC.
This media rebranding launch of the RTIA is a new milestone that the Agency has reached to reposition itself as a unique major player and an independent adjudicator of traffic infringements.
A brand ladies and gentlemen, is a promise that an organization makes to its clients and its service offering. The RTIA through this rebranding launch is making a new commitment to its service offering and road safety in particular. This launch signifies a new beginning that will create trust among the motoring public that AARTO is here to make a difference in the saving of lives of our people.
The new corporate brand will enable the RTIA to occupy a unique position among the motoring public that the Road Traffic Infringement Agency is the home of AARTO where motorists are educated and empowered on how to query and manage their Infringements.
Moreover, the new logo invokes the emotion that this is a caring organisation that is poised to assist infringers with all their queries related to outstanding infringements without striking fear in the hearts of the public.
In conclusion,
I would like to congratulate the RTIA for launching their new corporate identity which is a promise of efficiency, professionalism, caring and most importantly the reduction of fatalities on our roads.
“Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction and ignited by a purpose”. And Team Transport, through RTIA will influence, will motivate, will generate, will produce and will ignite voluntary compliance to road traffic laws coupled with efficient law enforcement on our roads and enhancing their value of life.
I thank you.
