Outa: 60% discount on past e-toll debt a farce
The 60 percent discount offered on past e-toll debt is a farce and does not change anything, the Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said on Sunday.
“We always said that applying extortionist and punitive tariffs was never going to be an effective tactic for Sanral [SA National Roads Agency Limited] to apply in the first place, Outa said in a statement.
“The majority of the motoring public have rejected the scheme, not because of the tariffs, but because the scheme is unjust and irrational. If the Gauteng motorists were sold on the scheme in the first place, they would have gone out and fitted e-tags to enjoy the discounted rate from the start.”
The reduced monthly cap also did not change the exorbitant costs of collection, which came in at over R1 billion a year and enriched foreign companies.
“We believe a few people may succumb to Sanral’s new carrot, but it will not push their current low 25 percent compliance levels to much more than 40 percent, which was where [it] was in mid-2014, and at those levels the scheme remains a massive failure as a user pays mechanism.”
Outa had always maintained that the inefficient e-toll scheme was introduced unlawfully and that the public had every right not to pay tolls for the use of Gauteng’s freeways.
“A 60 percent discount of zero rands due remains zero as far as we are concerned,” Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage said in the statement.
Outa had now launched their new “e-Toll Defensive Umbrella” campaign, aimed at providing legal support for all of its contributing members in the event they were summonsed for non-payment of e-tolls.
“Those public members who agree to Outa conditions and sign-up to donate a monthly contribution of an affordable value of their choice, will fall under Outa’s defensive umbrella. Details and sign-up is available on Outa’s website at www.outa.co.za.”