South African companies do not have a\u00a0corporate stance\u00a0on e-tolling in Gauteng, leaving their employees to foot their own bills.<\/p>\n
According to a\u00a0report on MoneyWeb<\/a>, citing the results of a PE Corporate Services (PECS) survey,\u00a045% of companies remain neutral or do not take a corporate line on Sanral’s controversial road tax.<\/p>\n PECS, which questioned\u00a0100 companies,\u00a0sought to gauge how employers will be handling the economics of e-tolls.<\/p>\n 17% of those surveyed supported the e-tolling system, while perhaps surprisingly, only 38% were opposed to it.<\/p>\n The survey, which was conducted in December and January, found that close to half (46%) of the companies indicated that they would pass any additional costs incurred by e-tolling on to customers, the rest indicating they would absorb the costs.<\/p>\n Nearly two thirds (63%) of companies surveyed indicated they would only reimburse employees for e-toll fees paid while on company business, but would otherwise not assist employees who rack up large bills.<\/p>\n PECS noted further that e-tolling has already become a factor in wage negotiations.<\/p>\n Amongst other issues highlighted, companies questioned in the survey also indicated that they were having difficulty registering for e-tolls – adding to the growing voices of dissent against the system.<\/p>\n Since its launch on 3 December 2013, the e-tolling system in Gauteng has been a hot topic, faced with opposition from numerous sectors of society.<\/p>\n Leading the mounting issues against the system are numerous billing complaints – which, according to Outa head Wayne Duvenage, exceeds 1,600 at the opposition group, alone.<\/p>\n Numerous reports of number plate cloning, disproportionate bill amounts, and even in some cases the deceased being billed, have made headlines across various media channels.<\/p>\n Billing complaints were also received by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the National Consumer Commission (NCC) – an indication, Outa said, that the system is failing.<\/p>\n Despite the billing mess going as far as drawing concern from South African president Jacob Zuma, Sanral maintained that billing issues were not widespread, and all concerns were being addressed.<\/p>\n Both Sanral CFO, Inge Mulder, and Sanral Spokesman Vusi Mona previously downplayed any billing crisis, noting that only a small percentage (0.3%) of all complaints were “valid”.<\/p>\n Sanral has called the idea of a failing billing system misleading.<\/p>\n “When one compares [these complaints] to the approximately one million account holders and the volumes of passages per day, one can say the system is holding up,” Sanral said.<\/p>\n “We are by no means saying the complaints received are not important and should not be dealt with; we are simply saying that it is misleading to say the system is not working.\u201d<\/p>\n Why e-tolls are ridiculous: economist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n E-tolls blamed for the rise in cloned plates<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nPersistent problems<\/h3>\n
More on Sanral and e-tolls<\/h3>\n