Sanral accused of collusion on e-tolls
Justice Project South Africa (NPC) has accused both, the National Consumer Commission and Sanral of collusion, and making “an utter mockery of the laws of South Africa”.
Howard Dembovsky, National chairman of the JPSA, noted that on Friday 24 January 2014, the National Consumer Commission’s head of Advocacy, Education and Awareness, Phumeza Mlungu stated that “Sanral’s e-tolls terms and conditions are 90% compliant with the Consumer Protection Act” and that “legislative amendments will be required to bring them in line with the Act”.
These statements, Dembovsky said, were made on SABC1, adding also that Mlungu pointed out that the National Consumer Commission had received two complaints and four enquiries with respect to e-tolling since its launch on 3 December 2013.
“Anything that is “90% compliant” is actually non-compliant and therefore violates the provisions of the Act,” Dembovsky stressed.
“There is a pertinent saying in law which holds “let the buyer beware” and anyone who assents to terms and conditions that violate their rights under the Consumer Protection Act is looking to have their rights violated with their own consent.”
Dembovsky argued that for the NCC to then state that “legislative amendments will be required to bring Sanral’s terms and conditions in line with the Act” is an outright admission of collusion between the two State agencies and is furthermore an admission that the National Consumer Commission is not acting in the interests of consumers.
The JPSA lead said that because Mlungu did not specify which 10% of the Sanral e-tolling terms and conditions violate the Consumer Protection Act, it could not comment further on this.
“If the National Consumer Commission is clearly prepared to turn a blind eye to the violation of its own legislation and thereby fail in its supposed mandate of protecting consumer rights, it is hardly surprising that so few people have complained to them,” Dembovsky said.
Howard Dembovsky
Notwithstanding the apparent violation of the Consumer Protection Act, the JPSA said that Sanral has also recently taken it upon itself to reduce the terms of payment whereupon a 60% discount applies on invoices paid within 30 days to terms of 17 days and less. The period of validity for discounts is legislated in the e-tolls tariff gazette of 19 November 2013.
“Both the National Consumer Commission and Sanral have made an utter mockery of the laws of South Africa by their collusion and preparedness to violate the very laws they expect others to abide by,” Dembovsky said.
Sanral’s ‘Stalinist’ tendencies
Last week, Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said it had received over a thousand complaints from the public in three weeks.
“Outa is often accused by Sanral of promoting ‘defiance’ and ‘civil disobedience’. In truth Sanral is practicing ‘business disobedience’ by expecting users of the freeways to pay without affording them the courtesy of normal invoicing and billing procedures, said John Clarke, spokesperson for Outa.
“Such ‘Stalinist’ tendencies only serve to heighten confrontation and delegitimize the obligations of the road users in accordance with Sanral’s rules and the laws they have managed to bring into being.”
“Contractual obligations between parties in a business relationship need to be logical and reasonable. Government agencies who abuse their power, effectively cash in their authority and legitimacy and erode the rule of law whilst undermining social cohesion,” said Clarke.
DA court case
The Democratic Alliance says that its legal case against the implementation of e-tolls on Gauteng’s freeways has been set down for 4-5 March 2014.
The DA submitted papers to the High Court in November 2013, arguing that the legislation governing e-tolling was incorrectly tagged and should be declared unconstitutional.
DA E-tolls Billboard
Sanral sorry
Sanral’s CEO Nazir Alli apologized to Gauteng residents over for the groups faulty billing system, citing a database issue, EWN news reported.
“The databases that we have been relying on to be able to send you the notification, unfortunately those are the ones that have let us down in terms of the accuracy of the information. But within time we will fix it.”
Alli, however, called on people to respect the law. “Now that the courts have pronounced on this thing, let’s show some respect for our democracy and for the rule of law.”
More on Sanral and e-tolls
Bizarre e-toll billing complaints
Public protector called in e-toll billing mess
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