Not getting an e-tag is not illegal- Outa
The Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) says there is no law that requires road-users to buy an e-tag or to register with Sanral, in order to use Gauteng’s freeways.
This is in a response to Transport Minister Dipuo Peter’s plea to Gauteng motorists to abide by the law and get e-tagged.
Outa disputes this.
“While getting e-tagged and registering with Sanral has nothing to do with being law-abiding, what it does do is make Sanral’s task of enforcing e-tolling easier.
“Road-users must be aware that getting an e-tag and registering with Sanral places them on Sanral’s system and binds them to a contract to pay e-tolls,” says Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage.
He adds that getting e-tagged also limits the right of road-users to object to paying tolls and to resist an unjust system. “Choosing not to get e-tagged and registered with Sanral allows road-users to continue to object to paying e-tolls and to resist the implementation of e-tolling.
“The choice of whether to get e-tagged or not is up to each individual road user,” he adds.
Non-tagged road-users will, according to statements by Sanral and the e-toll regulations, have seven days grace in which to pay for driving under a gantry.
After expiry of the seven-day grace period, they will be sent an invoice by Sanral within 32 days.
Outa says non-tagged road-users can exercise their own choices:
n to pay at a higher tariff, but after putting Sanral through its paces of invoicing and sending notices for payment and making it difficult for Sanral to enforce e-tolling;
n refuse to pay e-tolls at all. In this case, further notices and demands for payment will be made by Sanral over time until, finally, Sanral may sue for payment in court and/or prosecute the road-user for non-payment of toll.
This may result in the road-user(s) having to defend their action in court.
“With regards to the second option, every individual citizen has the right to resist the enforcement of unlawful action by government. In this regard, the courts have not finally ruled on whether e-tolling is lawful or unlawful and the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment has made it clear that it is still open to individuals to challenge the enforcement of e-tolling on the basis that it is unlawful,” explains Duvenage.
Duvenage says Outa’s legal team has evidence to show that e-tolling is unlawful, among other reasons, because Sanral failed to comply with the law when it failed to properly inform the public of the intent to toll Gauteng’s freeways at the outset and to conduct the legally required public participation procedure in October 2007 (for the N1, N3, N4 and N12) and April 2008 (for the R21).
“Outa intends to bring, or assist in the bringing, of a test case in this regard in order that the liability of road-users to pay e-tolls be decided by the courts once and for all.
“This time Sanral and the government will not be able to hide behind technical defences such as delay, as they could and successfully did when resisting Outa’s efforts to stop e-tolling before it started,” says Duvenage.
There have only been 21 000 e-tag sales in the two weeks since the announcement that e-tolling would start on December 3, which apparently brings the total of e-tag sales to around 730 000.
Outa believes this is a dismal e-tag uptake and sends a strong signal that society at large has given the system the thumbs down.
Duvenage says e-tag sales are not the same as e-tag registrations, as it is possible to buy an e-tag from certain outlets without yet registering.
