The details of the electronic toll collection contract (ETC) should not be kept confidential, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said on Monday (15 October 2012).<\/p>\n
“It shouldn’t be confidential. It is taxpayers’ money that is being used to pay the tolls so the taxpayer should know what the money is being used for,” said Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage.<\/p>\n
But there was nothing he could do about it, after Outa agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement, said Duvenage.<\/p>\n
He said that was the only way Outa would have been able to get access to the ETC contract to prepare for its court case.<\/p>\n
Duvenage was responding to a report in The Star newspaper on Monday that parts of the high court review of the project in November could be held in camera because of the confidentiality agreement.<\/p>\n
This meant that taxpayers may never know the full agreements, pricing and subcontracts surrounding e-tolling.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Constitutional Court overturned an interim order which had put a hold on the Gauteng e-tolling project.<\/p>\n
During the case, the legal team representing the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) had made selective references to the ETC contract which Outa had not seen.<\/p>\n
“Now imagine a court case for them to use the contract even though we had not seen it,” said Duvenage.<\/p>\n
“We needed to see them…so we were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement to see it.”<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court found that the High Court in Pretoria had not considered the separation of powers between the high court and executive.<\/p>\n
In April, the High Court granted Outa the interdict, ruling that a full review needed to be carried out before electronic tolling could be put into effect.<\/p>\n
The interdict prevented Sanral from levying or collecting e-tolls pending the outcome of the review.<\/p>\n
Sanral and National Treasury appealed against the court order, and said delays prevented the payment of the R21 billion incurred in building gantries.<\/p>\n
The review was expected take place in the High Court in Pretoria on November 26.<\/p>\n
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