Despite its failure to collect millions of rands in unpaid e-toll bills, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it has not made a single prosecution in seven months since the system’s launch.<\/p>\n
The revelation comes amid claims by DA shadow minister of transport, Manny de Freitas, that he has been inundated with calls and emails from Gauteng motorists who have been threatened by Sanral at various roadblocks over e-tags.<\/p>\n
Sanral has denied these allegations, however, the road agency faces an anxious wait after Gauteng premier, David Makhura, on Thursday (11 July 2014) announced a 10-member e-tolls review panel to\u00a0focus on the impact of system on the economy.<\/p>\n
The work of the advisory panel on socio-economic impact of etolls will be submitted by 30 November, 2014.<\/p>\n
The premier said that the panel will also seek public proposals and submissions to incorporate into its findings.<\/p>\n
Makhura also urged motorists to continue paying for e-tolls.<\/p>\n
“Sanral has neither issued any final letters of demand, nor requested any summons to be issued by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA),” said Sanral spokesperson, Vusi Mona.<\/p>\n
He said that Sanral continues to follow the normal process of following up on outstanding toll fees. “The issuing of summons is the last resort. We would much rather have road-users register for their e-toll accounts thereby avoiding the legal route,” Mona said.<\/p>\n
The Sanral Act does provide for a fine or imprisonment for up to six months, or both a fine and imprisonment for failing and refusing to pay a toll, with the Sanral Act making provision for a civil penalty of R1,000 to be imposed for failure and refusal to pay for a toll.<\/p>\n
“The issue of sanctions will be decided by the courts once Sanral has exhausted its own debt recovery methods and handed over violations to the NPA,” Mona said.<\/p>\n
Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage was quoted as saying that he believes the unpaid e-toll bill is as much as R1 billion.<\/p>\n
He said he believes that more people are not tagged and not paying for e-tolls than those who are.<\/p>\n
Duvenage estimates that between 35% and 40% of Gauteng road users are tagged for the e-toll system.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not intimidating e-toll users: Sanral<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n