C-BRTA must pay back the money

The Road Freight Association (RFA) has called on the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) to refund all members for increased cross-border road transport permit fees instituted in 2011, which were found to be unconstitutional. The North Gauteng division of the High Court declared the increased permit fees unconstitutional and invalid in February 2013, but the C-BRTA appealed the judgment in the Constitutional Court. In a judgment handed down in May this year the Constitutional Court dismissed the C-BRTA appeal, finding that the order of the High Court was correct and that it did not have the power to vary that order. According to Gavin Kelly, RFA spokesman, it has been a lengthy court procedure but the outcome has been welcomed across the board. Whilst the C-BRTA introduced new permit fees in 2014 which were still considered to be extremely high, it did mean that many operators would be refunded for unjust fees. The court case, brought by Central African Road Services (CARS) against the C-BRTA, had far-reaching impact in the road freight sector, said Kelly. “It proves that one cannot just institute fees and not follow the correct procedures. Millions of rands were paid and we are definitely going to do our best to ensure these fees are refunded to our members.” CARS challenged the way permit fees were increased in 2011, stating there was not enough public participation and correct procedures were not followed. The RFA joined as a friend of the court. The High Court and now the Constitutional Court found in favour of CARS stating that the increased fees had not been published in two official languages and an insufficient public participation process had been followed. The High Court suspended the order for six months, giving the Minister of Transport time to comply with the regulations and remedy the situation, but this never transpired. In its appeal to the Constitutional Court the C-BRTA argued it would not be able to retrospectively pay back fees as its financial viability was at stake. The Constitutional Court, however, had very little sympathy, ruling that while its financial state was unfortunate the possibility of insolvency of the C-BRTA had been brought upon itself. Kelly said if refunds were not forthcoming from the C-BRTA the RFA would take legal action to remedy the situation. INSERT & CAPTION The court case proves that one cannot just institute fees and not follow the correct procedures. – Gavin Kelly