Still not paying for e-tolls?
Outa chairman, Wayne Duvenage says that more people are not tagged and not paying for e-tolls than those who are.
Duvenage estimates that between 35% and 40% of Gauteng road users are tagged for the e-toll system.
SABC News presenter, Leanne Manas, quoted Duvenage as saying that he believes that the unpaid e-toll bill is at as much as R1 billion. The project launched in December last year.
Manans noted that Sanral’s target is to collect R260 million from highway users each month; however, Outa predicts that the system collects between R80 million – R90 million, mainly from business.
Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, will announce the panel which will review the impact of e-tolls at a media briefing later on Thursday (10 July).
Makhura announced the review during his state-of-the-province address late last month.
“We shall set up a panel to review the impact of e-tolls and invite new proposals on how we can find a lasting solution to this matter, working with the national government, municipalities and all sectors of society,” he said at the time.
“While we shall not promise easy solutions and claim easy victories, we must make it clear that we cannot close our eyes to the cries of sectors of our population who are severely affected by the cost of traveling across the province.”
Is it a criminal offence to have outstanding e-tolls?
Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) noted that the Sanral Act provides for both, criminal and civil prosecution for failing and refusing to pay any toll.
However, this Act was promulgated in 1998, in the same year as the AARTO Act was promulgated, long before e-tolls were even contemplated as a mainstream way of collecting tolls and long before the AARTO Act was implemented.
“JPSA has been and remains of the opinion that e-tolls transgressions must be dealt with under the AARTO Act where it is in force and has raised this matter with the relevant authorities,” it said adding that those authorities have “chosen to ignore us”.
What are the penalties for not paying e-tolls?
The Sanral Act does provide for a fine or imprisonment for up to 6 months, or both a fine or imprisonment for failing and refusing to pay a toll, JPSA said.
“However, because it was written long before e-tolls were even contemplated, it doesn’t contemplate whether such a sentence would be imposed for a single transgression or what Sanral likes to refer to as ‘rolled up’ transgressions.”
The Justice Project said that, while it is highly unlikely that judicial officers would choose to imprison people for this offense, “it is not beyond the realms of possibility that this could happen in trying to ‘make an example’ of e-toll defaulters”.
When it comes to the civil side of things, the JPSA said that the Sanral Act makes provision for a civil penalty of R1,000 to be imposed for failure and refusal to pay toll.
More on e-tolls
Questions over e-toll prosecution
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