They’re lying to you about e-tolls
Critics have accused the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) of using fear tactics to get motorists to pay their outstanding e-toll bills.
This comes after weekend reports which highlighted claims by Sanral that it will now block car licence renewals for motorists who don’t pay for the controversial tolling scheme.
Howard Dembovsky, chairperson of Justice Project South Africa, said that this threat is not new.
Sanral has threatened to withhold licences since the onset of the e-tolling, he said, and that this is not a new amendment as has been claimed.
He added that the provision has always existed in the Aarto Act for enforcement orders to be issued against any outstanding infringement, including non-payment of e-tolls, to coerce payment of the fine. Aarto has been in effect in Johannesburg and Tshwane since 2008.
“Despite it being an issuing authority in the Aarto scheme, Sanral has not issued a single infringement notice for failure to pay e-tolls since they came into force in December 2013,” he said.
It has also failed to prosecute a single motorist for not paying e-tolls, using the Criminal Procedure Act, which applies outside of the jurisdictions of the Johannesburg and Tshwane metro police departments.
“Apart from annual tariff increases, no amendments to the ‘e-road regulations’ have been published since 2015,” Dembovsky said.
This was echoed by civil society group Outa, which said that the warning from Sanral was fear-mongering, and that 80% of road users in the province would not be able to renew their vehicle licences if the ‘change’ was actually enforced.
Outa is also of the view that Sanral does not have legal grounds to withhold licences for non-payment.
“Renewal of a vehicle licence can only be withheld with if an enforcement order for outstanding infringements fines has been issued against an owner/driver of a vehicle, and it hasn’t been paid. Outstanding e-toll fees is not an infringement as a road traffic offence,” it said.
Changes could be coming
Dembovsky said that Sanral’s best hope to withhold licenses from motorists who fail to pay e-tolls rests in the upcoming Aarto Amendment Act.
The Act retains fining for failure to pay e-toll, adds two new charge codes to enable it more specifically, and allows Sanral to electronically serve infringement notices on alleged infringers instead of posting them using so-called ‘registered mail’.
Set for national implementation on 1 July 2021, the Aarto Amendment Act has been steeped in controversy regarding its clear objective of promoting revenue generation over road safety and placing an ominous administrative burden on motorists who are presumed guilty of any infringement.
While Transport minister Fikile Mbalula and the Gauteng provincial government have promised a resolution on e-tolls for years, Dembovsky said it is now clear that the system is not going away.
“On the face of things, what is clear is that government has no intention to scrap e-tolling and that it would rather risk triggering a vehicle licensing fees revolt than to admit that it was wrong in contriving this diabolical and convoluted scheme,” he said.
MyBroadband investigation
The e-tolls scheme itself faced controversy this weekend after major corruption allegations surfaced.
An investigation by MyBroadband’s Jan Vermeulen details grave allegations against Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) and its parent company, Kapsch TrafficCom.
Among the allegations are that ETC, with full knowledge of Kapsch, made payments totalling R10 million over three years to a company called ProAsh Business Services without receiving any services or deliverables from the company.
According to the allegations in the police report, ETC defrauded the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) by misrepresenting these payments.
The police reports also contain allegations that ETC and Kapsch may have bribed Zambian government officials via a local subsidiary called Intelligent Mobility Solutions (IMS).
The third allegation, contained in the documents which were submitted to the NPA, was that Kapsch and ETC had presented a falsified B-BBEE certificate to bid on a SANRAL tender in 2020.
In response to these allegations, Kapsch and ETC said that they are conducting an extensive independent external investigation and will act on the findings.
Read: Sanral says it will block your car licence renewals if you don’t pay e-tolls: report
Loading ...