{"id":47595,"date":"2013-10-14T23:01:22","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T21:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=47595"},"modified":"2013-10-15T11:14:59","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T09:14:59","slug":"how-many-e-tags-has-sanral-really-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/47595\/how-many-e-tags-has-sanral-really-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"How many e-tags has Sanral really sold?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sanral<\/a> has noted a bump in e-tag sales after the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed an ongoing fight against the Gauteng e-tolling system, but can the numbers be trusted?<\/p>\n

According to Sanral spokesperson, Vusi Mona<\/a>, 8,000 e-tags have been sold since the ruling on Wednesday (9 October), while Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams noted a total of 680,000 e-toll tags were in circulation.<\/p>\n

However, the exact number of e-tags sold by Sanral have recently come under question, while tracking claims and reports on the figure over the past year.<\/p>\n

In November 2012, Sanral indicated that it had sold 500,000 e-tags at that point, just ahead of one of the planned launches of the system.<\/p>\n

However, according to a report by ITWeb, Mona had indicated that in April 2013, the figure was only at 250,000 – 100,000 less than reported sales a year earlier (April 2012), and more than half of the reported sales at the end of that year.<\/p>\n

By July 2013, Sanral reported that the number of e-tags sold had moved past 600,000, indicating a 140% growth in sales in 2 months.<\/p>\n

Even in the event that the Sanral spokesman misspoke or was misquoted (that is, that the dip to 250,000 was incorrectly reported), it would mean that e-tag sales had remained stagnant for over 6 months.<\/p>\n

A timeline of reported e-tag sales from Sanral and various media outlets over the past year and half paints a confusing picture to the real number of e-tags sold.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Carte Blanch about the e-tolling system – and specifically the number of e-tag sales, Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa<\/a>) head, Wayne Duvenage<\/a>, said that there is simply no trusting Sanral when it reports on figures, based on the report.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/strong><\/td>\ne-tags sold
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 2012<\/td>\n350,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
November 2012<\/td>\n500,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
December 2012<\/td>\n600,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April 2013*<\/td>\n250,000*<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
June 2013<\/td>\n600,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October 2013<\/td>\n680,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

* report has since been changed to reflect sales in April 2012, not 2013<\/small><\/p>\n

Not legally required<\/h3>\n

Duvenage, who has led the battle on behalf of Gauteng motorists against Sanral’s tolling system, has repreatedly pressed on the public that getting an e-tag is not required by law.<\/p>\n

Duvenage insists that by not getting tagged, and letting the system run its course, would be a sure-fire way to bring e-tolling to its knees.<\/p>\n

“If any member of the public feels the system is unjust, they have every right to exercise passive resistance to make it more cumbersome,” Duvenage said.<\/p>\n

“We believe that if enough people do not get an e-tag, the system will be to difficult to manage and it will eventually collapse.”<\/p>\n

\"Wayne<\/a>

Wayne Duvenage<\/p><\/div>\n

Also speaking to Carte Blanch on the topic, chairman of Justice Project South Africa (JPSA), Howard Dembovsky<\/a> said that he estimates about 1 million more motorists would likely register for e-tags in order to avoid fines and possible criminal record.<\/p>\n

However, when asked if that would be enough for the e-toll system to work for Sanral, Dembovsky said: “No – because there will be over a million motorists who don’t.”<\/p>\n

According to Dembovsky, if even a million motorists refuse to get tagged and incur fines – which all have to go through the criminal justice system – South Africa’s courts would collapse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sanral speaks of the prosecution of e-toll transgressors, it seems to have forgotten to take into account the fact that the overcrowded court rolls are already struggling to deal with the existing matters before them,\u201d Dembovsky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy adding to this situation, they will either effectively bring the South African criminal justice system to a grinding halt, or fail in carrying out their threats. \u201d<\/p>\n

Special courts incoming?<\/h3>\n

On Monday (14 October) The Beeld reported that Sanral and the Justice Department were discussing the possibility of establishing special courts where e-toll non-payers could be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Justice Department spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga<\/a> reportedly said Sanral had asked for such a court, but said that they were “still talking about what would be the best method.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the department of justice said they \u201ccould not speculate\u201d on whether the country\u2019s legal system would be able to cope.<\/p>\n

More on e-tolls<\/h3>\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

E-tolling is happening in 2013: minister<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sanral has noted a bump in e-tag sales after the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed an ongoing fight against the Gauteng e-tolling system, but can the numbers be trusted?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1912,427,26,6759,1988,429,6793,1989],"class_list":["post-47595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-e-tag","tag-e-toll","tag-headline","tag-howard-dembovsky","tag-outa","tag-sanral","tag-vusi-mona","tag-wayne-duvenage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47595","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=47595"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47642,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47595\/revisions\/47642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}