10 statements of grievance against e-tolls
·9 Mar 2014
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) recently handed over a document to the the Office of the Public Protector outlining some of the 1,400 grievances it received from “angry, anxious, confused, and exasperated members of the public” regarding Sanral’s e-toll system.
Outa outlined a number of grievances in order to give clarity and simplicity to the complexity of complaints by the hundreds of people who contacted the group.
Ten statements of grievance:
- Dishonesty in reporting on the sales of e-tags, by fabricating an illusionary and selfdeceiving impression that the system is functioning according to plan, and for failing to take users into their confidence on the extent of the security breaches after the Sanral IT systems were hacked, nor notifying the user base as a whole that their personal data may have leaked.
- Abuse of their authority and power by sending unjustified, inaccurate and offensive messages to people, which have provoked needless fear and anxiety and undermined the legitimacy of the State in its function to uphold the Rule of Law.
- Discrimination against “alternative users” of the freeways by failing to provide the promised level of service to take advantage of discounts, process their payments via internet banking, and provide documentation for normal accounting purposes.
- Unfairly penalised alternative users with exorbitant and extortionist tariffs if they do not pay their e-toll bills promptly, while failing to provide users with accurate and timely tax invoices and proof of the usage charged.
- Maladministration of the data bases and mismanagement of the IT systems by failing to ensure the necessary data integrity of primary sources and clean up the system, while expecting the users to take responsibility for initiating remedies to correct the errors and problems.
- Obtaining personal information of people by violating their right to privacy.
- Discourtesy to people seeking redress and explanation for errors and problems that have arisen from internal problems.
- Failure to give complainants access to information necessary for the exercise and protection of their constitutional rights, and specifically their consumer rights.
- Failure to provide reasonable and transparent justification for decisions taken by the authorities with respect to public money.
- Failure to provide the advertised discounts for users who have bought e-tags and have signed Sanral terms and conditions.
More on e-tolls
Public protector called in e-toll billing mess
How to stop e-tolling in Gauteng
Outa is wrong about e-tag sales: Sanral
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