Why e-tolls’ third birthday is more important than you think
This week marked three years since the controversial e-tolling project came into operation in Gauteng, a date that is likely to put the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) under even greater financial pressure.
That’s because according to Moneyweb, under terms of the Credit Act, creditors are unable to demand payment if they have not contacted you in three years.
So if you have not made a payment for e-tolls, have not formally acknowledged the debt or have not been informed by the credit provider about payment over the past three years, it is considered prescribed debt.
Prescribed debt can be used as a defence in court.
Read: This is how many people owe money for e-tolls
Moneyweb reported that motorists owe Sanral more than R6.2 billion in unpaid e-tolls.
“Conservatively speaking, the civil claim of unpaid tolls does expire after three years unless prescription is halted. It is important to note that prescription is a defence that the debtor must raise and a court is not allowed to mero moto (out of own motion) take note of prescription,” Sanral said.
The roads agency stressed however that non-payment of toll is both a criminal and civil offence in terms of the Sanral Act – which only prescribe after 20 years.
Sanral said it has already issued more than 6,000 summonses to non-paying motorists – representing R575 million of outstanding toll fees.
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) chairman Wayne Duvenhage told Moneyweb that only one in five users pay for e-tolls, with 2.9 million motorists in debt.
Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters recently sent a written reply to Parliament noting that of the 2.5 million registered vehicles on the GFIP network in a month, just under half (1.4 million) were registered e-tag account holders, while 1.3 million users were paying their e-toll bills.
“Currently … there are just over 2.9-million accounts with a balance owing. However, 1.2-million owe less than R500 each as at the middle of August,” Peters said.
Read: This one graph shows the spectacular failure of e-tolls
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