‘Don’t worry about e-tolls’ fleet owners told

Fleet owners have nothing
to fear regarding their
outstanding e-toll debt as the
law around this is “unjust and
irrational”, according to the
Opposition to Urban Tolling
Alliance (Outa), which has
vowed to continue its fight.
The anti-tolls organisation
was responding to the
announcement last week by
the South African National
Roads Agency (Sanral) that it
would now try to target fleetbased
companies which have
the highest outstanding bills.
Outa chairperson Wayne
Duvenage points out that after
a month of the new Sanral
dispensation – which offers
discounts on outstanding
e-toll debt – the uptake has
been “dismal” and notes that
“all indications are that this
carrot will not be the saving
grace for the ill-fated e-toll
scheme”.
“The announcement by
Sanral that they will now
try to pursue fleet based
companies who have the
highest outstanding bills to
try and save the e-toll scheme
comes as no surprise,” says
Duvenage.
“We believe that
outstanding e-toll bills are
related to an unjust and
irrational law, which makes
it unnecessary for business to
worry or disclose this amount
as a debt to shareholders. In
our opinion, e-toll bills are not
a debt.”
According to him, after
two years of operation and
billions of outstanding bills
no-one has, to date, been
issued a summons for nonpayment
of e-tolls. “We believe
this is because they have
no case and without a legal
channel of enforcement, their
strategy is limited to carrots
and intimidating messages
to coerce the public into
submission,”
Duvenage
comments.
He says
Outa has been
preparing
this case for
years. “This
time around
the technical
defence that
got Sanral
off the hook
in 2013 is
no longer
applicable.
Virtually all the issues
we warned Sanral about
regarding the weaknesses,
irrationality and
unworkability of the scheme
have materialised. The
Western Cape toll challenge
has also strengthened Outa’s
case in Gauteng,” Duvenage
comments.
The ETC, which is
responsible for collecting
outstanding e-toll bills on
behalf of Sanral, said in a
statement last week that
there were
more than
3.3 million
outstanding
etoll payments
totalling
R5.9 billion.
According
to the ETC,
private
companies
with fleets
of vehicles
account for
the lion’s
share of the
outstanding debt. Business
Day reported that those
companies were among the
17% of the entities that owed
81% of unpaid tolls.
A news report by
Independent Media revealed
that the single largest
outstanding e-toll bill was
R20 million – which was
owed by a well-known private
transport company.
INSERT & CAPTION
All indications are
that this carrot will
not be the saving
grace for the ill-fated
e-toll scheme.
– Wayne Duvenage
CAPTION
Anti e-tolls organisation Outa is confident it will win its case
against e-tolls in Gauteng.