Transporters have been advised to continue paying for e-tolls – and those who are objecting on principle to keep money aside to avoid any potential legal backlash after Gauteng Premier David Makhura recently just about conceded that the system had failed.
But the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which drove the massive civil disobedience campaign that led to just 29% compliance with e-toll payments, according to Sanral’s 2017 annual report, said it was unlikely road users who had been paying e-toll fees would be refunded although the decision was obviously up to the government.
Makhura said in his State of the Province address last month that e-tolls had failed and had added to the cost of living for motorists and public transport users. He promised to engage President Cyril Ramaphosa to find “a new and more equitable funding model”.
Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage said most people who had been paying e-tolls, apart from a small number of individuals, were corporates who had already passed the cost on to consumers. He added that Outa had always advised motorists that it was their choice whether or not to pay e-tolls and some of its supporters had been paying.
Duvenage said the organisation had made submissions to the government regarding potential solutions and it hoped that newly appointment Minister of Transport, Blade Nzimande, would agree that it was time to find a solution.
“The government now needs to make the decision to pull the scheme because we can’t have a defunct scheme where one in five people are paying,” Duvenage said.
Durban Harbour Carriers chairperson Sue Moodley said some of its transporter members had been paying e-tolls while others had refrained. She said the question of whether transporters should now stop paying e-tolls in light of the premier’s remarks had come up at a Road Freight Association meeting last Thursday.
“Many big operators are complying and they are paying. If transporters are not paying it has been advised that they should take the money and put it aside because you never know when there might be a court case and it could come back and bite you,“ Moodley said.
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You never know when there might be a court case and it could come back and bite you. – Sue Moodley
