Civil society, Cosatu and the DA are pulling out all the stops this week in last-ditch attempts to have the controversial e-tolling system scrapped.
Court applications have been filed by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance and Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum. The DA and Cosatu plan to protest in the streets.
Outa is due in the High Court in Pretoria today to seek an urgent interdict to stop the launch of the e-tolling system next Monday.
The alliance’s chairman, Wayne Duvenhage, said on Monday: “This is so as to give judges time to review arguments in the matter and then make a decision on whether to have the system outlawed or not.”
“The entire e-tolling process is very complex and expensive, and it’s going to be costly to manage.”
The issue of summonses was also a key point of Outa’s argument. Duvenhage said the implementation of e-tolling would put added pressure on an already strained criminal justice system, as the number of monthly summonses sent to motorists who didn’t pay their toll fees would increase “considerably” .
“More than 10 percent, even 15 percent of road users would be non-compliant and this will lead to a huge amount of summonses. There will be lots of non-compliance. You have got to ask yourself if there is an easier way to pay for the roads.”
Outa estimated that more than a million summonses would be issued each month.
The SA National Roads Agency Limited’s argument was that it would suffer a loss of income if the levying of tolls was delayed, and that it would be forced to renege on its agreement with Electronic Toll Collection, which Sanral had contracted to collect the tolls.
The national treasury has also applied for leave to intervene in the case.
“There would be serious negative implications for future financing of roads and investment in public transport, were Sanral to be interdicted from implementing the toll collection system. The national treasury will argue that the interdict should be denied.”
The case was important because it affected the state’s ability to finance road infrastructure, it said. The government had contributed R5.75 billion to the project so that user toll fees could be lower.
PROTESTS PLANNED
The DA, meanwhile, planned to show its support for Outa by protesting outside the courthouse on Tuesday from 10am.
Spokeswoman Kelly Miller said its members would be out in full force, and called on the public and other organisations to join them.
Cosatu, which has a membership of two million, was planning countrywide mass protests. Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said a protest was planned at Sanral’s offices on Wednesday.
Cosatu has not ruled out taking legal action against Sanral.
Craven said: “The marches will culminate next Monday and there will be big marches in all main city centres.”
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union said its members would participate in all of Cosatu’s protests held countrywide.
“Cosatu strongly believes that the pressure of the masses is crucial to forcing government to back down on this blatant extortion,” spokesman Tahir Sema said. – Sapa