E-toll indecision remains a crisis of legitimacy for Government

“It is clear to us that the ANC NEC is ignoring volumes of empirical evidence from almost six years of the failure of the Gauteng e-toll scheme,” says Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA). “Statements, policies and regulations are one thing, but what matters most is the ability to implement laws and policies and, if Government is unable to do so, it needs to find practical and workable solutions to the impasse as opposed to making glib statements in the hope that the problems will disappear.”

Unlike electricity or taking a train ride where the user-pays principle is more easily applied, the e-toll scheme is very different in the ability of authorities to administer and enforce it. What Government fails to acknowledge are the reasons for the scheme’s failure. There is now enough evidence that, had Government applied alternative options to fund the Gauteng freeway upgrade bonds, these would have largely been settled by now. This essentially means that Government has not acted in the best interests of society and continues to do so by ignoring the facts and alternatives that are available to them to resolve the impasse.

The levels of non-compliance have continued to grow, which OUTA estimates at closer to four out of five people not paying their e-toll bills. On top of this, SANRAL has been fiddling around with a senseless, costly and protracted litigious war with the public over the past three years. The authorities would do well to realise that they’ve already lost on this matter, regardless of a slim chance of achieving a ruling in their favour.

OUTA still awaits an invitation from the authorities to discuss and provide input on solutions to the e-toll impasse.