Government aims to implement\u00a0e-tolling for Gauteng roads before December, according to\u00a0Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, who says that the system will benefit everyone.<\/p>\n
President\u00a0Jacob Zuma<\/a>\u00a0recently signed into law the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill, which paves the way for the implementation of e-tolling.<\/p>\n The minister told the SABC’s Morning Live<\/a>\u00a0that the\u00a0tariffs for the tolls will now be advertised for a period of 30 for public comment. “After the tariffs are advertised, there will be a period of 30 days for public comment.\u00a07-14 days, after that 30 days, we will be implementing,” she said.<\/p>\n A legal expert has said that if you want to avoid six month imprisonment, and payment of a fine, you will just have to go and buy your e-tag and pay for e-tolls.<\/p>\n With the majority of motorists not yet collecting an e-tag for the tolling system, Peters warned: “People were waiting for the Act, and people were waiting for the tariffs\u2026.but now it is law.”<\/p>\n “We are all\u00a0benefiting, in particular those who are working and living in Gauteng,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n Tshiamo Sedumedi, MD of MNS Attorneys told the SABC morning news programme that currently, from a legal point of view, the only way to prevent e-tolling from going ahead would be based on \u00a0a ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA).<\/p>\n Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa<\/a>), is currently awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court of Appeal\u2019s (SCA) ruling on its appeal against e-tolling.<\/p>\n Outa is a group of business associations and individuals, and was formed in March 2012 to challenge Sanral\u2019s decision to implement e-tolling of Gauteng\u2019s recently upgraded freeway network. It felt the decision was irrational, unreasonable, and illegal.<\/p>\n Sedumedi\u00a0noted that the North Gauteng High Court had already ruled on the matter to implement e-tolls.<\/p>\n “So up until the SCA has pronounced itself on the matter, unfortunately the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill\u00a0is the only option we have as a country,” Sedumedi said. \u201cFrom a legal point of view, this is the only route we must follow.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that by not complying with this law, until the court ruled otherwise, South Africans would be breaking the law, pointing to harsh penalties for non-compliance with e-tolls.<\/p>\n Sedumedi said that falling foul of the\u00a0Sanral Act could see motorists criminally convicted, and imprisoned for a period of six months, with a fine.<\/p>\n “In addition to that, Sanral has the powers to recover all the fees owed, so these are quite harsh mechanisms,” Sedumedi said.<\/p>\n He noted, however, that this had always been the case, since 1998, when the Sanral act had been passed and had nothing to do with e-tolls.<\/p>\n The legal expert said it was difficult to call on the strength of Outa\u2019s case, stressing that the North Gauteng High Court had already ruled in favour of Sanral.<\/p>\n \u201cThe courts have already given an indication where the wind is blowing. But obviously the SCA is not bound by the decision of the North Gauteng High Court.”<\/p>\n “At this stage if you had to make a judgement, you would say, so far, it is one round in favour of government,” he said.<\/p>\n What will happen if I don\u2019t pay? Any contravention of the Act is a criminal offence and, if found guilty, motorists can be fined or subjected to imprisonment not exceeding six months. The legislation also imposes a civil fine of R 1,500.<\/p>\n The legislation also gives Sanral the choice to decide whether to pursue you in civil law or criminal.<\/p>\n Sanral FAQ<\/strong><\/p>\n Out of the mouth of Sanral, on its website:<\/p>\n If e-toll transactions are not paid within the seven day grace period. The Grace Period is the time frame which a road user has in which to pay their outstanding fees.<\/p>\n The Grace Period is 7 days from the time of your transaction, these transactions are handed over to the the Violations Processing Centre (VPC). The overdue e-toll transactions will increase to the Alternative userAn alternate user is a user who does not qualify for any discounts at the time of an e-toll transaction and will pay standard e-toll tariff rates.<\/p>\n An alternate user is identified at the time of the e-toll transaction by an e-tag or a VLN or by both where applicable. e-toll tariffs and the discounts will be forfeited. A debt collection and prosecution process will commence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More on e-tolls<\/p>\n People want e-tolls: Transport Minister<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n E-tolls or fuel levy: Sanral can\u2019t have both<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n E-tolls will force SA middle class into poverty<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n E-toll bill signing an insult: DA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Signing e-toll bill unwise: Outa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Government aims to implement e-tolling for Gauteng roads before December, according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, who says that the system will benefit everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1804,26,83,1988,429,6790],"class_list":["post-47141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-e-tolls","tag-headline","tag-jacob-zuma","tag-outa","tag-sanral","tag-tshiamo-sedumedi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47141","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=47141"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47147,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47141\/revisions\/47147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/b><\/p>\nE-tolling is happening in 2013: minister<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"