{"id":39571,"date":"2013-06-07T09:15:39","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T07:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=39571"},"modified":"2013-06-07T09:59:42","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T07:59:42","slug":"da-to-fund-outa-e-toll-legal-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/39571\/da-to-fund-outa-e-toll-legal-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"DA to fund Outa e-toll legal fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Democratic (DA<\/a>) says it will contribute R1 million to Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa<\/a>) to help fund its bid to fight e-tolls in court.<\/p>\n

This is in response to Outa\u2019s public call on 5 June to assist with funding its court action.<\/p>\n

In April, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral<\/a>) said it would begin e-tolling on Gauteng roads within two months. The group also intends rolling out similar schemes in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Outa also reported a big response from the public in the wake of its June 5th appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response has simply been overwhelming,\u201d said Outa chairman, Wayne Duvenage. \u201cBy close of business on Thursday at 17h00, some 27 hours after our press conference, we had received over R120,000 and things were looking really good.<\/p>\n

“Then, four hours later, as the overnight interbanking process updated around 21h15, I could hardly believe my eyes as the SMS notifications sent my phone ablaze with donations pouring in. By the time the notifications stopped some 40 minutes later, we had received around R540,000 from just under 800 entries into Outa\u2019s bank account!\u201d<\/p>\n

The DA said in a statement on Friday that it is committed to fighting urban e-tolls on major commuter highways.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government\u2019s e-toll levies go ahead at the end of this month, they will hit poor and middle income South Africans the hardest.”<\/p>\n

“A person earning R6,000 and driving a car to and from work each day will potentially have to pay over R500 a month in toll charges, a huge portion of their income. E-tolls will also increase food prices and transport costs for other basic goods,\u201d the political party said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have fought the e-toll Bill (formally and deceptively known as the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill) in Parliament, winning several major victories in delaying the implementation of urban e-tolls and exposing the government for its cruel disregard of poor South Africans.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this response to our call for help, there is no doubt in my mind that people throughout Gauteng and South Africa are strongly opposed to the ill-conceived plan to toll our freeways,\u201d Duvenage said.<\/p>\n

Duvenage<\/a>\u00a0said on Wednesday that the group may have to drop its case against Sanral if it does not raise an extra R1 million in three weeks.<\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court granted Outa leave on January 25 to take its case to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The appeal is expected to be heard on September 25 and 26.<\/p>\n

The DA said it fully supports Outa\u2019s efforts to stop e-tolls, and believes the group has a strong legal case.<\/p>\n

“We do not believe the government, and particularly Sanral, consulted the public adequately prior to the introduction of e-tolls, nor did they present or properly consider alternative infrastructure models which would not have had such a negative impact on the lives of ordinary South Africans, who are already struggling to make ends meet,” the DA said.<\/p>\n

In Cape Town, the DA-led government won an interdict against Sanral to achieve transparency on its e-toll plans in the province so that the people can make an informed decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DA will do everything it can to mobilise all South Africans, especially those in Gauteng, against this form of e-tolling,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n

More on e-tolls<\/h3>\n

Outa running out of money<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

E-toll tariff reduction? Big whoop, says Outa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Gauteng e-tolls imminent: Sanral<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-tolls needed for economic growth: Martins<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-toll to cost R200 on average: SANRAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SANRAL wanted to warn motorists on e-tolls<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic (DA) says it will contribute R1 million to Outa to help fund its bid to fight e-tolls in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1329,427,26,2508,1988,429],"class_list":["post-39571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-da","tag-e-toll","tag-headline","tag-opposition-to-urban-tolling-alliance","tag-outa","tag-sanral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39571"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39577,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39571\/revisions\/39577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}