OUTA vows to continue opposing summons for e-toll debts
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says it will continue with its plan to defend motorists who receive a summons from the South African National Roads Agency for outstanding e-toll debt.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi had earlier this month announced the scrapping of e-tolls in March.
He made the announcement during his State of the Province Address.
Briefing the media following his State of the Province Address on Tuesday last week, Lesufi said the delay in scrapping the unpopular system was due to the processes which had to be followed, including finalising agreements with financial institutions.
"So, Treasury said that we are taking 30% in your next financial year…I mean, if you take R12 billion from our budget, health and education will suffer. So, that level of debate took a long, and we could not start the process of removing the e-tolls until January this year.
"We met with the minister of transport and treasury and said this is how we want to repay the R12 billion. Don’t take it from our budget. We’ll go to financial institutions that are prepared to lend to us. Then we reached an agreement and, on the basis of that agreement, made the announcement that we would ungazette them because they were gazetted."
However, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said he was unaware of a purported agreement to scrap e-tolls in Gauteng by the end of March.
Godongwana said there are still outstanding questions that need answers before such an agreement can be finalised.
"We had an agreement with the premier of Gauteng, and that agreement is that we will settle the debt 70:30 split between the national and provincial government.
"We have made our own commitment and gave SANRAL money last year, so the province has to give us money. Second, the province has to answer the question, who is going to do the maintenance? That is a discussion they are having with the Department of Transport.
"Unless an agreement is tied down, I can't make a commitment as to when the gantries can go."
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage says National Treasury deputy director-general of public finance Mampho Modise’s comments are confusing as Sanral stopped issuing summonses against e-toll defaulters in 2019, and most of this debt has now been prescribed.
Modise said that Gauteng had agreed that debt should and will be collected.
"We found it quite ludicrous that government, especially in an election year but that's regardless election year or not, is trying to fight with its citizens to collect outstanding funds on a scheme that has failed from the start, that never got the compliance levels that they expected above 90% and that has been most irrational and unworkable and quite frankly fought with corruption."
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