Don’t pay e-tolls, keep your cash in the bank – Outa

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has advised motorists and businesses to keep their money in the bank rather than give it to the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) as they may not be refunded should the scheme be scrapped.

This as the government left everybody in limbo after it failed to give direction on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Projects (GFIP), also known as e-tolls, despite promising to find a lasting solution to the issue.

Both the Gauteng State of the Province address (Sopa) and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech were silent on how the e-tolls would be financed going forward.

Outa said because of this uncertainty, it was receiving calls from compliant road users, asking what they should do under these uncertain conditions. It said many businesses were concerned that so few people were paying toward “this highly questionable and dubious scheme”.

“Accordingly, we believe the public’s money is best kept in their bank accounts rather than in Sanral’s because, if the scheme is scrapped, it is highly likely that those who have paid their e-tolls will not be refunded,” said Outa chief executive Wayne Duvenage.

He said the government had missed various deadlines to announce the future of the scheme. “We are now at the end of February and still none the wiser,” Duvenage said.

Duvenage said neither Mboweni nor Gauteng Premier David Makhura gave any indication about how the e-toll upgrade bonds would be financed going forward, despite the government’s knowledge that the current e-toll income levels barely cover the collection costs and there was virtually nothing left to offset the GFIP debt.

“The inability to provide clarity on the failed e-toll scheme is now further damaging what is left of government’s credibility on this issue. There are now no more than one-in-five road users who pay their e-tolls,” Duvenage said.

“We have always claimed the e-toll scheme was introduced unlawfully and as a result are defending thousands of citizens who were once summonsed by Sanral for non-payment. Sanral abandoned the test case process a year ago and the current indecision has led to more users halting their payment of e-tolls,” said Duvenage.

“We cannot remain in limbo with a failed scheme that has proved to be grossly inefficient and unenforceable, with its current low-income stream merely enriching a foreign company,” Duvenage said.

In his budget speech this week, Mboweni said R1.9 billion would be allocated to compensate for reduced tariffs in the GFIP.

Duvenage said the amount that Mboweni mentioned as compensation, was nothing new but part of the regular amount the government contributed annually. “The budget indicates an acknowledgement that motorists aren’t going to pay. Budget Review 2020 notes the need for clarity on the e-tolls and says that declining e-toll revenue will have to be offset by other measures to repay South African National Roads Agency Limited debt”.

He said Outa believed that civil society organisations, that act on behalf of citizens, should continue to make meaningful contributions to the crucial budget process.

In line with this, Outa would make a detailed submission to parliament on its views of budget 2020 during the public participation phase.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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