Outa disputes Sanral figures
He added that it was time to go beyond “immature disputes and for Sanral to be absolutely transparent”.
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) claims the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral) number of 1,2-million e-tags taken up is “hogwash and intended to create the false impression that society is clamouring to become tagged”.
Outa also asked, “What does taken up mean?”
“If they are inferring that these are fitted in cars making use of the Gauteng freeways, this is misinformation,” said Mr John Clarke, the spokesperson for Outa.
“We are tired of these tit-for-tat claims and have exposed Sanral’s deliberate misinformation about e-tag sales in the past,” said Mr Clarke.
He also said the real question was why Sanral did not allow an independent journalist or auditor to simply take a look at their computer screens in their operations centre where this information is readily available.
“What we would like to know, is the exact percentage of e-tagged vehicles passing under the GFIP gantries, excluding the Bakwena concession, in total, by day and month to date for February. For all we know, Sanral’s numbers include tags sitting on shop shelves, storerooms and elsewhere, but they are of no use if not fitted to vehicles travelling on the Gauteng freeways,” said Mr Clarke.
He added that it was time to go beyond “immature disputes and for Sanral to be absolutely transparent”.
“While Outa is opposed to this particular e-toll system, we are not the enemy. The question they should be asking is why are so few people buying e-tags instead of disputing the evidence. One has only to read comments from readers on every online article that features e-tolling to see that Sanral has a major credibility problem,” said Mr Clarke.
