E-toll debt starts prescribing

Outstanding e-toll debt has begun to prescribe as three years have passed since the controversial system became operational, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) says.

But it warns non-payment of e-tolls is also a criminal offence that prescribes only after 20 years.

So, unless road users have received a summons or have formally acknowledged their debt, they can argue Sanral has lost its right to enforce it as it failed to do so within the common law limit of three years.

Road users at the end of September owed Sanral R6.2 billion in unpaid e-tolls, Sanral said.

With every day that passes, the outstanding e-toll debt incurred on the same day three years ago, qualifies for prescription.

Sanral says it has “prepared 6 286 summonses” to the value of R575 million in outstanding debts to be served by the sheriff on road users as the first step to recover the total outstanding R6.2 billion.

The roads agency says non-payment of tolls is a criminal and civil offence. Since criminal offences only prescribe after 20 years, the outstanding amounts are still recoverable, it added.

Sanral would therefore not quantify the financial risk posed by prescription.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) chairperson Wayne Duvenhage said he doubted criminal prosecution will assist the agency to collect the outstanding amounts.

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has given an undertaking not to criminalise the process, according to Duvenhage.

He criticised Sanral’s reporting of outstanding e-tolls in its annual financial statements as an asset “when all indications point to virtually no hope of recovering this money”.

Duvenhage said only one in five users pay e-toll bills and 2.9 million road users are in default, but Sanral’s annual report ignores this.

Sanral’s Less 60% campaign garnered only R146 million in discounted payments and agreements for a further R123 million. Since the campaign ended in May, Sanral’s income from e-tolls has varied between R61 million and R71 million against a forecast of R101 million.

Picture: Bloomberg HIGHWAY ROBBERY. But who’s robbing whom? Motorists have overwhelmingly ignored Sanral’s demands for e-toll payments. That’s a criminal offence, according to the agency.