Court ends Sanral toll plans in Cape

A SUPREME Court of Appeal ruling on Thursday, which invalidated the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral’s) plans to toll the N1 and N2 in the Western Cape, has added to the agency’s tolling woes.

This is the latest blow for the agency, which has struggled to get drivers to comply with its e-tolls in Gauteng.

Sanral, responsible for maintaining the national road network, was one of the parastatals placed on review for downgrade by ratings agency Moody’s, which raised concern about its funding challenges and ongoing cash flow pressure.

Moody’s said Sanral still faced public opposition to the tolling system and had failed to get motorists to take up a 60% discount period on historic debt, raising only R76m a month in the 2015-16 financial year compared with R86m a month the year before. The agency needs to raise R260m a month from etolls for the system to be successful.

Earlier in 2016, Sanral cancelled two bond auctions due to a lack of investor interest.

However, the agency has raised more than it expected to at its bond auctions since it returned in June.

The DA-led city of Cape Town has been vehemently opposed to the agency’s tolling

plans in the Western Cape, and after a four-and-a-half-year court battle the metro has succeeded in halting the project.

In 2015, the High Court in Cape Town ruled in the metro’s favour by setting aside the declaration to toll sections of the highways.

The city had approached the court, accusing Sanral of failing to follow due process when it decided to toll the N1 and N2 in the Winelands. The court ruled that if Sanral wanted to proceed with the project, it had to start from scratch and conduct a process supported by proper public participation. Sanral then appealed against the judgment.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed the appeal with costs. The city argued successfully in court that the minister of transport at the time the tolling decision was made and Sanral had both failed to consider relevant information — such as the effects of tolling, the affordability of the proposed toll fees for low-income earners and the effect on the surrounding road networks.

Further, in terms of the Sanral Act, only the Sanral board could take the decision to declare a toll road. But the city argued that the board never made such a decision and was never given the information to enable it to make such a resolution. The appeal court stated in its ruling that the decision to toll had massive implications for the province and the country, and as such required serious and informed deliberation, which was solely lacking.

In a media briefing on Thursday, Brett Herron, Cape Town’s mayoral committee member responsible for transport, said that the ruling was a victory for Western Cape residents.

He said while the judgment would have little effect on the e-tolls saga in Johannesburg, as the courts had found it to be lawful, it would have a major bearing on how Sanral operated going forward. Sanral would have to consult widely before taking a decision to toll, said Herron.

Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said the agency respected the ruling.

“We will, however, study the judgment and reasons provided by the court of appeal.”

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said: “I hope that Sanral will refrain from wasting taxpayers’ money on further legal action.

“The city’s estimated legal costs have already reached at least R20m,” she said.