Outa: E-toll management contract extended until end of the year
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) says the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has extended the Electronic Tolling Company’s (ETC) contract for the e-toll management until the end of the year.
No decision has been announced on the future of the unpopular user-pay system despite promises that an announcement would be made by Christmas.
President Cyril Ramaphosa last year tasked Gauteng Premier David Makhura, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to come up with a workable solution.
Outa’s Wayne Duvenage says the extension of the toll collector’s contract is a clear indication that the rhetoric about reaching a final decision on e-tolls in the lead-up to the 2019 elections was a farce
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He says motorists who do pay their e-toll bills should be encouraged to cease payments.
“What we do know is that if the one-in-five compliant people stopped paying their e-toll bills, the government would be compelled to finally make the decision, or be forced to bail-out the ETC company for its operations costs, which they will be very reluctant to do,” says Duvenage.
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