Motorists do not have to pay any outstanding e-toll accounts, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has advised road users after the government discontinued its Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) on Friday (April 12).
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said more than 80% of motorists had historically not paid for e-tolls during the civil organisation’s lengthy 12-year-old legal campaign to end the system.
This comes after Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga published a notice in the Government Gazette cancelling the toll declaration of the GFIP, known as e-tolls. The declaration became effective on April 11 at 23:59, which means that from April 12, road users are no longer being charged for the use of the e-toll network.
“It is important to note that, while these roads are no longer going to be tolled, the benefits of improved roads remain and the gantries that have been installed for use on this scheme will continue to be used for other functions, such as fighting crime,” Chikunga said at a media briefing this week.
The minister said the obligation to pay e-tolls remained until midnight on April 11.
However, Duvenage advised motorists that they could safely ignore any e-toll bills they might receive.
“Motorists haven't paid and there's nothing they can do. Their last resort, which they had been putting in place for a while, was to summon defaulters, and they abandoned that in March 2019,” Duvenage said.
“So, for the last five years, nothing has happened. They have been sending out the bills. But quite frankly, any outstanding bill is a fallacy, it’s an illusion in their minds because if they can’t force payments, they can’t withhold your licences, and there are no criminal records, no blacklisting, no credit rating listings. So now, without summons which they've dropped, these bills are meaningless,” Duvenage said.
“We have rightfully defied this scheme. So again to the public well done for standing your ground. This is a public victory by the way,” he said.
The government was forced to announce the end of e-tolls due to Outa’s public defiance campaign.
“They've made the decision because they were forced to, so those bills don't exist. Just ignore them. If anybody gets a summons for outstanding e-toll bills, contact Outa and we'll handle the rest. They can give us a mandate and we will fight it … but as far as we're concerned, it's all over,” Duvenage said.
