Outa piles pressure on Sanral with plan to defend members

THE OPPOSITION to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has increased the pressure on the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) over the e-toll system by committing to pay for the legal defence of any of its members who were prosecuted for not paying their bills.

Wayne Duvenage, the chairman of the alliance, said yesterday Outa had now geared itself up to offer a protective defensive umbrella to motorists, who could rely on it to hold Sanral accountable at every turn for failing the public.

Duvenage said the alliance had “several thousand” members who made voluntary monthly contributions of between R100 and R5 000.

He referred to reports that Sanral had transgressed the Legal Metrology Act in failing to obtain certification of its e-toll electronic systems and claimed Sanral had flouted constitutional provisions that obliged state-owned enterprises to be transparent, accountable and lawful.

Duvenage and Howard Dembovsky of Justice Project SA both indicated yesterday that they were unaware of any case of a motorist having been prosecuted for failing to pay their Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project e-toll bills.

However, Sanral communications general manager Vusi Mona said the first e-toll offender to be prosecuted was Stoyan Stoychev, who was charged with cloning a vehicle licence plate and evading tolls.

“E-tolls have been tested as the chief magistrate would not have upheld the guilty plea. All elements of all charges must be proven whether (there is) a guilty plea or not. In fact, because of the conviction of evading tolls, he has been ordered to pay his e-toll debt,” he said.

But Duvenage said the alliance would prove that Sanral could not prosecute anyone for not paying their bills. He claimed Sanral realised this two years ago or it would have started prosecuting motorists long ago.

Any system that struggles with enforcement suffers from a crisis of legitimacy.

“Any system that struggles with enforcement suffers from a crisis of legitimacy,” he said.

Duvenage said the e-toll system was irrational, the public consultation process was not in line with the constitution and it had now emerged it was not even certified properly.

Dembovsky said the latest development involving the failure to certify the e-toll system meant that if anyone had been prosecuted for non-payment of e-tolls, that person would have a very good chance of having that conviction overturned in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Mona said Sanral’s mandate was to construct, maintain, finance and manage South Africa’s national road network, and not to prosecute.