The writing has been on the wall for e-tolls in Gauteng for some time and the latest saga involving R3 billion in unpaid fees confirms that. “Government was adamant that e-tolls were the way of the future and that the user-pay principle was here to stay. Yet the second phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) on the N14 saw no user-pay approach,” a source told FTW. In addition Gauteng MEC for transport, Ismail Vadi, earlier this year announced that the first new highway to be built in the province in 40 years would not be tolled and would in fact be government funded. “The fact is that the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has simply not made the money they thought they would out of the e-tolls, and taking the outcry against the tolls into consideration, tolling at this point would be dangerous political move in Gauteng,” said another source. “I don’t see e-tolls lasting in Gauteng. They are fighting a losing battle.” Sanral is owed some R3.6 million in outstanding e-toll debt. Last week Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona conceded to FTW Online that the low collection rate of e-toll revenue was concerning to the agency and that the minister of transport had been asked to address the impact of the poor collection rate with Cabinet. Claims made that the agency had written off its e-toll debt were incorrect, Mona said, indicating it had just not been acknowledged as revenue for the financial year. Attempts to recover unpaid e-tolls would continue. Gavin Kelly, spokesman for the Road Freight Association, said the testing of e-tolls in court was fast becoming inevitable. “The civil process to collect the outstanding money is ongoing and some of that debt has been outstanding for more than three years. At some stage they are going to have to test cases in a criminal court.” He said while many operators had purchased e-tags there were a fair number who had not. “We have also seen an increase in operators who have purchased tags who are now simply not paying any more as they wait and watch to see what is going to happen to the outstanding debt,” he said. “When it comes to e-tolls there is an elephant in the room. Those who chose to be law abiding are not seeing any benefit compared to those who chose not to.” Commenting on whether e-tolls would be scrapped, Kelly said it would not be surprising if it did happen.
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Those that chose to be law abiding are not seeing any benefit compared to those who chose not to. – Gavin Kelly
