Outa says it’s ready to shoot holes in Aarto ‘dodges’
THE Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has emphasised that it is illegal at this stage for the government or local licensing authorities to withhold motorists’ licences because of unpaid e-tolls fees.
“Authorities are seeking to amend the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences Act (Aarto) to bring e-tolls into play,” said Outa chair man Wayne Duvenage.
“If they do so, we believe they will be trying to force an irrational and unlawfully introduced e-toll scheme into play through the Aarto process.”
Wednesday was the last day on which motorists could make submissions about proposed changes to the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act that would make the failure to pay etolls a violation of the National Road Traffic Act.
Duvenage said Outa was prepared to guard the rights of its members if they encountered problems.
“Outa will defend its contributing members if the authorities deny them their rights.
“This we believe will even- tually trigger the collateral challenge on the lawfulness of the introduction of e-tolls.”
Outa also announced that it had received an overwhelming number of submissions from members – and more had been trickling in from those who had missed the deadline.
“We have kept our portal open. We have received almost 5 000 submissions and they are still coming in.”
Duvenage said that because of the holiday season, the authorities should have given be- tween 45 and 60 days to submit their comments.
“The law says the government needs to give a minimum of 30 days for comment on gazette changes. It doesn’t stipulate a maximum, which means if the authorities were serious about public engagement and feedback, they could have given more time.
“Clearly they have little regard for meaningful engagement.”
Duvenage said the next steps would depend on how long it took Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to sift through the submissions.
“This, we imagine, will take several weeks to a couple of months.
“We expect (Peters) will also need to provide feedback to society on what the major objections are and who or why these are irrelevant and how or why she has amended the proposals to suit the changes.”
An activist against e-tolls, Cavey Parker, 69, who is known for standing on the N1 bridge with banners opposing e-tolls, said he had not been to the bridge for a while, but would resume his campaign.
“I have made the submissions online.
“My personal view is that if (Sanral, the SA National Roads Agency Ltd) can show me an audit on how they spend money for the roads, I’d be willing to pay – but for now I am not convinced.”
Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said this week that the failure to pay tolls had been an infringement under Aarto legislation since 2008.
He said the amendments would be positive for motorists as they related to the removal of the demerit points for the failure to comply with a toll sign.
They would also extend, from 40 days to 70, the period for the serving of an infringement notice, allowing a more practical arrangement for the payment of e-tolls.