INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

The SA National Roads Agency Limited remained silent on Monday on questions about the terms and conditions for motorists registering for e-tolling. Photo: Mujahid Safodien

The SA National Roads Agency Limited remained silent on Monday on questions about the terms and conditions for motorists registering for e-tolling.

Last week, Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala reportedly found the terms “excessively one-sided in favour of the supplier, and as such... not in line with the spirit of the Consumer Protection Act”.

She said a clause in the conditions which allowed Sanral to get information from any institution concerning applicants where they had an account, was a gross violation of consumer's right to privacy.

“There should be some restriction to the kind of information that a service provider may have access to as long as it relates to the nature of the account or to the core business.”

In January, Sanral announced that e-tolling, which was meant to begin this month, had been put on hold to address public concerns and petitions sent to the Minister of Transport, Sbusiso Ndebele.

Anti-toll petitions were submitted by the Democratic Alliance, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the SA National Civics Organisation.

The announcement of the e-tolling system was met with wide criticism and outrage when it proposed that light motor vehicles with e-tag accounts would pay R0.49/km to use the toll roads, minibus taxi drivers R0.16/km and bikers R0.30/km. Vehicles without an e-tag account would be charged R0.66/km.

The Cabinet later approved reduced toll tariffs for the Gauteng highway tolling system.

E-toll account registration started in November with registered users depositing R50 into their accounts to create an initial balance.

Cosatu urged motorists not to buy- e-tags. It said if the tolls were not scrapped, Cosatu would encourage motorists to drive through the tolls without paying.

Meanwhile, a number of organisations were reportedly planning to take legal action against Sanral in an attempt to stop e-tolling on Gauteng's freeways.

The Road Freight Association said a group of industry players would take legal action against Sanral and that the legal documentation would be finalised in a few weeks. - Sapa