OUTA vows to fight on
OUTA recently claimed that Sanral has continued to mislead the public regarding e-tag sales and various other e-toll-related information.
Mr Wayne Duvenage, of OUTA, said the release of the e-tag sales figure is merely a ploy to create the impression that the public has flocked to purchase e-tags.
He added that this is “clearly not the case”, indicating that the total number of over 700 00 e-tags sold includes large fleet operators, banks, car rental companies, government fleets and leasing companies.
“Sanral has yet to confirm how many actual, individual road users have purchased an e-tag, which we suspect is a much smaller proportion of total e-tag sales,” he said.
Spokesman for Sanral, Mr Vusi Mona, said on July 31 that in order to reach the maximum amount of R450, a motorist would have to travel through 301 gantries and clock-up an average of 2 760km during a month on the e-tolled roads. The claim referred to motorists who have an e-tag and an up-to-date, registered account.
Mr Duvange said that the numbers added up far quicker when using Sanral’s own e-tag calculator on their web site. “Taking an average of three different commuter routes at e-tag rates, during standard commuter times, OUTA was able to show that far less kilometres (an average of 1 598 km), through almost half the number of gantries (average of 163), could be traversed to reach the R450 cap at an average of 28c per kilometre.
“How can Sanral make the statement that only one percent of Gauteng freeway users will reach the R450 cap? One-percent of what number?” asked Mr Duvenage. He calculated that of the one million or so frequent/daily commuters on these freeways, estimates are that at least 250 000 motorists or more will reach the monthly e-tag charges of around R400 and more.
OUTA plans to release details of its strategy to empower society with knowledge of their rights. It will include legal advice in cases of being stopped by the so called e-toll police and finally, the support of a strong legal counsel and team to tackle the case of the first person who is summonsed for non-payment of their e-toll bills.
“This first case will be the test case, wherein the arguments which will prove Sanral’s unlawful conduct and transgression of the public’s constitutional rights will be heard and ruled on,” said Mr Duvenage.
