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Electronic Toll Collections (ETC) – which is responsible for the management and collection of e-tolls in SA – and its Austrian-based owner, Kapsch TrafficCom, have been implicated in alleged corruption and bribery involving millions of rands in two contracts.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) chief executive Wayne Duvenage said on Wednesday these latest revelations – along with others that Outa has raised regarding the ETC tender and contract values and the inflated Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) construction costs – warrant the introduction of an independent inquiry on the e-tolls matter.

Duvenage said Outa believes the questionable payments by ETC to a contractor – and indications that Kapsch allegedly paid a significant bribe to secure a Zambian contract – raise questions about the awarding of the e-tolls build-operate-maintain contract to ETC by the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) in 2009.

He added that with the ongoing and mounting controversies related to the e-tolls fiasco, Outa eagerly awaits Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s announcement on the future of e-tolls.

Mbalula gave an undertaking this month that an announcement would be made before the end of March.

Duvenage said a whistleblower who had reported these matters and was concerned about the lack of action, approached Outa in September 2020 to ensure these matters did not get swept under the carpet.

He said Outa investigated and then assisted in the compiling of an affidavit with all the available information and evidence, which was then submitted to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Duvenage said Outa in November 2020 submitted this report to ETC, which then appointed law firm ENSafrica to investigate.

Responding to a request for comment, Kapsch said these allegations were not new to the company, adding that for the past number of years ETC has had to respond in various forms “to repeated unfounded allegations emanating from a disgruntled former employee who seems intent on defaming the good name and reputation of ETC”.

“In response to these allegations, we have conducted extensive independent external investigations.”

To date Outa has not been informed of any findings in this serious matter.

Wayne Duvenage Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse