The amended transport bill dealing with e-tolling has been quietly tabled before Parliament. And, just like previous e-toll legislation, it is being met with resistance.
The most controversial section of the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill appears to be giving Sanral permission not to operate under the National Credit Act (NCA) to make it easier to collect tolls from road users.
The bill was tabled in the National Assembly on Friday, according to parliamentary records.
The bill deals with three main aspects. The first is that Sanral gives permission to another agency – the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency – to collect the tolls on its behalf from vehicles travelling across the borders between SA and other countries.
The second aspect is placing the declaration of toll tariffs in the hands of the minister, who has to publish the changes in a Government Gazette, and the third removes the collection of tolls from the NCA.
This last point has angered Howard Dembovsky, chairman of the Justice Project SA.
The bill reads: “Despite the provisions of the National Credit Act, 2005 (Act No 34 of 2005), the provisions of that Act are not applicable to the levying and collecting of toll in terms of this Act.” Dembovsky said this amendment was made to the bill on August 15 this year, but the original call for comment on the bill was made in December 2008. Even though the name of the bill has changed since then, there have been no calls for public comment on the current version.
“So, effectively, what people were asked to comment on then and what is being pushed through Parliament now are two differently named bills,” he said.
When motorists use e-tolled roads, Sanral will effectively be extending credit to them because they can pay later. Some of these road users may not be in a position to meet the debts, said Dembovsky, as well as those who are excluded from incurring any further debt if they are under debt review. If the NCA isn’t followed, then these people will not be protected from incurring further debt. “Furthermore, they will be allowed to summarily blacklist people, and that in itself has huge implications,” said Dembovsky.
“But is it that easy to simply break laws instituted on a national basis, if you’re a state-owned company?” asked Dr Cliff Johnston from the National Consumer Union. He said they had sent through enquiries on the NCA aspect of the amendment.
Johnston said the amendment was done because road users have to pay their tolls within seven days after using the road, and this effectively gives people credit, which could amount to a high debt fairly quickly.
“This would be considered reckless lending if people can’t pay because nobody is stopping them from using the road,” said Johnston. He said the amendment may also be good news, however, as it could mean one won’t be blacklisted if one can’t pay, but this hadn’t been made clear.
The technical and operations manager at the Road Freight Association, Gavin Kelly, said they were most concerned by the administrative handover to the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency, which could collect tolls on behalf of Sanral from vehicles passing in and out of the country. Kelly said this agency received a qualified audit in the last financial year and had accusations of corruption hanging over it.
“We are concerned that Sanral is outsourcing this to an agency with a qualified audit,” said Kelly. “We don’t want any money going there.” -The Star