Gauteng motorists will hear on Thursday (20 September 2012) whether e-tolling will go ahead, when the Constitutional Court is expected to decide whether to overturn an interim interdict preventing e-tolling.<\/p>\n
The High Court in Pretoria granted the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) an interdict on April 28, ruling that a full review needed to be carried out before electronic tolling of Gauteng’s highways could be put into effect.<\/p>\n
The interdict prevented the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) from levying or collecting e-tolls pending the outcome of a judicial review.<\/p>\n
Sanral and National Treasury appealed the court order.<\/p>\n
Sanral argued that delays in the project, due to the court’s order, prevented it from paying off debts incurred in building gantries.<\/p>\n
National Treasury lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett said High Court Judge Bill Prinsloo did not provide adequate reasons for his decision to grant the interdict.<\/p>\n
Outa’s lawyer Alistair Franklin argued that Sanral’s choice of e-tolling as a method of funding caused it more damage than the court order.<\/p>\n
He said the interim interdict was not the cause of “irreparable harm” to the road agency.<\/p>\n
It rather suffered “self-imposed” harm by not looking at alternative funding models, Franklin said.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Sanral was not ready to put the project into effect, and this was reflected by the absence of a new tariff notice.<\/p>\n
Sanral said public transport would be exempted from e-tolling, but these exemptions had not been published.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Sanral had also not distinguished between the driver, user and owner of a vehicle who would be tolled.<\/p>\n
Sanral lawyer David Unterhalter SC submitted that the costs of collection for e-tolling should have been examined holistically.<\/p>\n
He said the rate of non-compliance was not a proper reason for a review of the project.<\/p>\n
He said there were measures to manage deviance, and those who did not comply would face criminal sanctions.<\/p>\n
Unterhalter admitted that there were mistakes and faults with the system, but said it was ready to be introduced.<\/p>\n
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