Outa welcomes new E-toll litigation
Outa has welcomed the DA and FF+ announcements to file legal papers of additional challenges to the constitutionality and lawfulness of the E-toll regulations and other related matters.
This will give the Legislature another chance to scrutinise the rationality and desirability of E-tolling.
The DA is arguing that the Gauteng and other Provincial Legislatures have been wrongfully bypassed in having a say in the enactment of the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill by the National Assembly.
“Outa’s court challenge has served to raise issues that were never openly debated at the outset, because of Sanral’s failure to meaningfully consult the public” says Wayne Duvenage, chairman of Outa.
He adds that they, therefore, maintain the legislation lacks both ethical legitimacy, as well as formal lawfulness.
“We trust this latest legal challenge will now seize the opportunity inherent in the applications brought by the political parties and more importantly, the lawfulness matters as raised by Outa are eventually assessed.
“We have no doubt that if reviewed on the basis of rationality, workability, efficiency and citizens’ rights, E-tolling should be abandoned.”
Outa hopes that the Judiciary will be prompt in its judgment so that the matter could be expedited before Parliament adjourns for the National and Provincial Elections.
“We are confident that in a free vote, the E-tolling Bill will be overwhelmingly defeated. No self-respecting MP or MPL from Gauteng could support E-tolling after listening to what their constituencies are saying,” says Duvenage.
Outa believes the E-tolling saga has the potential to enable the vital maturation of our democratic processes and the mutual accountability that must exist between the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature, to exercise their duly separated powers in the best long term interests of the country.
Outa is in the process of revising its constitution to play the role of a civil action group that will institute social research and act as a support agency and citizen watchdog to concentrate on tolling policy and to hold Sanral and the State accountable to its citizens.
