Outa fears Sanral will jump the gun

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) says it is seeking clarity from the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) on whether the agency intends to press ahead with civil and criminal judgments against Gauteng motorists in the first half of 2017.

This is not withstanding Outa’s continued engagements with Sanral over a possible “test case” that could bring clarity over the liability of provincial motorists, who owe about R6.2bn to the agency.

Outa said on Monday that it understood Sanral was preparing to pursue criminal and civil judgments against some of the estimated 2.9-million provincial motorists who were not paying their e-tolls.

Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage said the organisation believed Sanral was attempting to subvert an inevitable court process that would indicate that “it is not unlawful not to pay your e-tolls”.

Outa remained concerned that Sanral would press ahead with summonses before a court had made a decision.

Outa and Sanral have agreed to co-operate on the limits of a case that could bring clarity on the liability of noncompliant users. All Outa members would fall under the umbrella of the test case and while Sanral has held back from seeking judgments, it has prepared 6,286 summonses.

Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said on Monday that it was important legal clarity be obtained as soon as possible, given the conflicting information the public was exposed to regarding the legality of tolling.

“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,” Mona said.

Outa has called for e-tolling in the province to be scrapped completely, saying that the scheme was registering less than 20% compliance despite requiring at least 80% compliance. The organisation maintains that the construction itself and the decisions to toll the freeways were “unlawful, irrational and excessively expensive”.

Duvenage said on Monday that Outa did not oppose the user-pay principle outright, but the system had failed in cities with far greater transparency and administrative efficiency.