E-toll showdown set down for later this year

The Organisation Undoing
Tax Abuse (Outa) will prove in
court that Sanral’s summonses
for billions of rands in unpaid
e-toll bills are unlawful and
that motorists don’t have to
pay up, when a test case comes
before the Gauteng High Court
later this year.
Outa chairman Wayne
Duvenage told FTW that the
organisation was confident that
it had a strong case to win the
fight. Its lawyers are currently
preparing and engaging with
Sanral’s lawyers to finalise
the technical parameters
of the case. Duvenage said
the case was “multi-faceted”
and in part focused on the
“workability” of the e-tolling
system and whether Sanral
had photographs proving
motorists had passed through
gantries – as well as the longheld
allegation that the agency
had not conducted meaningful
consultation with the public
before implementing the
system.
It’s a case that fleet owners
in particular will be watching
with intense interest.
According to
Outa, bills
across the road
user spectrum
range from
R200 to R1
million. “We
have identified
a couple of
cases for the
test case,” said
Duvenage.
Sanral
spokesman
Vusi Mona has denied the
allegation regarding a lack
of public consultation, citing
a 2012 North Gauteng High
Court judgment that sufficient
public consultation had taken
place and that public consent
was not required for financing
of the project.
Outa appealed to the
Supreme Court of Appeal
which refused to decide on the
merits of the case but rather
ruled largely on the technical
basis that there had been too
long a delay in challenging
e-tolling.
Duvenage said this kept
the door open for a collateral
challenge where citizens could
decide not to pay e-tolls and
defend prosecution for failure
to pay on the basis that the toll
declarations and approval by
the Minister
of Transport
were allegedly
unlawful. “We
believe there
is no way a
judge can find
anyone guilty
of ignoring a
law that was
put in place
unlawfully. In
our defensive
challenge we
will prove that this has been
introduced unlawfully,” he said.
“Outa will show, as was
shown in the Cape High
Court ruling on their e-toll
matter, that a project of this
nature does indeed need to
have meaningful consultation
with the people. Their efforts
regarding public engagement
and consultation were grossly
inadequate,” Duvenage said.
“How was it conceivably
possible that operations
managers and owners of
the largest fleet companies,
road freight companies and
couriers knew nothing about
the scheme until the gantries
went up?”
Duvenage said Sanral had
indicated its intentions to run
“a case or two” outside Outa’s
member base to press criminal
charges for
e-toll noncompliance.
“We would
like to alert
the public to
be aware that
if they receive
a summons
from Sanral,
they should
act and not
ignore this.
Outa’s website
contains
details of
how to react
when a summons is received,”
Duvenage said
Mona said the agency had
prepared 6286 summonses
against motorists for
outstanding toll fees totalling
R575 million since April 2016.
“The summonses are a first
step to recovering R6.2 billion
owed in toll fees. Sanral is also
in the process of preparing bulk
summonses for outstanding
debt.”
Mona added that
motorists owed Sanral
R11.4 billion as at 30
September 2016 – and the
agency had not yet reached
an agreement with Outa
regarding the test case..
“We are involved in a
process with Outa which
may result in
agreement to
the arguments
that will form
part of a test
case. The
agreement
with Outa is
that until such
time that such
agreement is
reached, both
parties will
not discuss
the matter in
public forums.
If a test case is
agreed, the parties will make
the announcement,” he said.
Non-payment of a toll was
“both a criminal and civil
offence” in terms of Section
27 (5) of the Sanral Act,
he added. The first e-toll
offender was successfully
prosecuted in September last
year.
INSERT AND CAPTION
Outa’s website
contains details of
how to react when a
summons is received.
– Wayne Duvenage
INSERT AND CAPTION
Sanral has prepared
6286 summonses
against motorists for
outstanding toll fees
totalling R575 million
since April 2016.
– Vusi Mona