E-Tolls: Be Under No Illusions
10 October 2013, 11:55
Some time ago, I wrote an article in which I shrugged my shoulders, that e-tolling was a fait accompli. Our only hope as citizens of The Fat Zulu’s South Africa, was that there would be some reassurance regarding the use of the cash. Alas.
With the dismissal of OUTA’s application by the Supreme Court of Appeal, and seemingly simultaneous publication of tariffs in the Government Gazette, there is no further impediment to SANRAL launching the scheme.
In revisiting the issue, I would like to re-emphasise why civil disobedience against the system will not work, or rather, why the rules and regulations will be enforced so ruthlessly. Remember that the recently enacted, so-called ‘E-Tolls Bill’ makes non-compliance a criminal act.
(And don’t you dare s****** behind you monitors, good people of Cape Town, Durban and PE. With the precedent set in Gauteng, you’re next.)
Kapsch Trafficcom
Austrian company, Kapsch, has been contracted to manage the e-toll system for the first five years, at a not unsubstantial fee. Kapsch has decades of experience in the management of open-road tolling systems. In Europe, they process billions of transactions a month, for tens of millions of motorists, on dozens of toll systems, in various countries.
Now, given their ability to enforce compliance across international boundaries, for millions of motorists, what makes you think that they won’t be able to handle a few thousand motorists in a single province?
Additionally, think about it: every transaction will be logged anyway, whether it is processed from a basis of compliance or not, is largely irrelevant to Kapsch.
‘They Can’t Arrest Us All’
Another rallying cry against the system is that SANRAL and/or Kapsch will not be able to act against every motorist not using an e-tag and/or not paying invoices.
Here’s the bad news: they won’t have to. Let me explain, courtesy of an example. Suspend belief for a moment.
It’s 17h00 on a Friday. It’s been a long week, and you’re on the N1, heading home for a relaxing weekend. Suddenly, traffic. 45 Minutes later, you reach the checkpoint at the head of the queue. It’s a SANRAL compliance roadblock. Cars fitted with e-tags and those paying up monthly, are free to proceed. Motorists with minor e-toll arrears are allowed to pay up at the roadside, and also head off. Citizens who are deemed to be too far in arrears, and those without number plates, are arrested on the spot. You do not have an e-tag, you have flouted the regulations for six months, and you are nicked.
Your mobile is confiscated and sealed in a bag, and you are seated in a bus with 24 other people. When the bus is filled it will take you to the SANRAL detention centre for processing. A SANRAL representative impounds your car, and removes it to their premises for safe-keeping. The whole thing is overseen by members of the SAPS and JMPD, and is completely legal.
Your attorney is powerless to act, since court will only be open on Monday. Your family is frantic with worry, and SANRAL makes no distinction between ‘nice’ and ‘unsavoury’ characters, you are all in the cell together. Officials offer you an out. If you pay your arrears, plus a fine, and you register for an e-tag, you will be released. But you are sticking to your guns.
On Monday morning, you are brought before the court. SANRAL requests a postponement for further investigation, and bail is set at R1,000. You are taken to the impoundment lot, where you discover that your car has been relieved of its sound system, and damaged. The official in the office shrugs his shoulders. He cannot monitor 380 cars all the time. When you try to take it further, you are accused by SANRAL of trying to extort betterment out of them. Your claim is dismissed.
Some weeks later, you have your day in court, and are found guilty. In addition to payment of the arrears and a fine, you receive a criminal record. You will not be able to apply for a visa for the USA, Europe or Australia, until the offence has been expunged from your record.
Scary. SANRAL will only need to pull this stunt on a few thousand people, for the message to get around. Moreso when those arrested and detained in appalling conditions are girlfriends, wives, mothers. And the elderly. At every dinner party and braai across the province, there will be horrific tales of somebody that was arrested and kept locked up for the weekend. Talk radio will be flooded with howls of outrage. Nazir Alli will respond smugly that if the compliance rate hits 80%, they’ll stop the roadblocks.
Faced with the might of the State, you will comply. Some people are already calling the e-tag, the new dompas.
Bloody Agent!
Before you accuse me of being on SANRAL’s side, let me assure you, I’m not. But I was familiar with certain aspects of the project in the past, and I know where SANRAL is coming from. SANRAL has to make the Gauteng e-road system work. They overspent substantially, due to construction company collusion. If they don’t have a means of clawing back the cash, they’ll be left to carry the can.
Their arrangement with Kapsch is Dodgy with a capital D. If that gets investigated, who knows what will emerge. That’s why a provincial issue has gone so far as to require national legislation.
It’s also why the usual trick of a crisp lion or a McDs meal, that you normally use to get out of a Metro Police ticket, will not work. Because SANRAL will be employing private contractors to do their bidding, not the police. They will be remunerated based on their successes in raking in monies owing. Unlike the police, they will be motivated to act against me and you. They will not be nice people.
Perhaps the scariest of all, is that the masses, the electorate which returns the ANC to power every five years, has been brought on board from the beginning. Remember that taxis and buses are exempt, and for those millions of ANC voters, e-tolls are a non-issue. Therefore we cannot even plead for a change of government, which would then instruct SANRAL to drop e-tolls.
Woe is us.
