E-toll prosecutions a step closer: report

·27 Oct 2014

Sanral chief financial officer (CFO) Inge Mulder says the agency is a step closer to prosecuting people who refuse to pay their e-tolls, Moneyweb reports.

Speaking to Moneyweb, Mulder said that the agency has received clarity on what it needs to provide to the National Prosecuting Authority to enable prosecution.

Sanral will reportedly provide a bundle of documents to prove that a specific vehicle passed under e-toll gantries, and has not paid the bills. Each gantry passed constitutes a separate charge, she noted.

Road users have been unable to receive e-toll bills due to an ongoing strike as the South African Post Office; Mulder, however, is quoted as saying that liability for the fees is established as soon as a car passes under the gantry – not upon receiving and invoice.

“This (prosecution) has to happen more now. It is not as if one has to charge 500,000 people. You just have to see that something is happening. Nobody wants a criminal record,” Mulder said.

On 7 October, Sanral reported a loss after deducting finance costs of R2.77 billion for the year ended March 2014, from a prior profit of R1 billion in 2013.

It said that toll revenue from operations was R3.48 billion for the year, which is a 65.7% increase from the previous year. The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) contributed R1.145 billion to this increase in revenue.

The e-toll system currently accounts for about half of Sanral’s R47 billion debt, and will take over 22 years to break even, according to Mulder.

You can read the full Moneyweb report here.