[May 2013..Dec 2013] The Gauteng E-tolling Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
OUTA welcomes new toll attack

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) on Tuesday welcomed a new legal offensive against e-tolling by two political parties.

"We... maintain the legislation lacks both ethical legitimacy, as well as formal lawfulness," chairman Wayne Duvenage said in a statement.

"We trust this latest legal challenge will now seize the opportunity inherent in the applications brought by the political parties and more importantly, [ensure] the lawfulness matters as raised by Outa are eventually assessed."

He said Outa had no doubt that if e-tolling was reviewed on the basis of rationality, workability, and the rights of citizens, it would be scrapped.

On Thursday, the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus announced they would each bring high court applications to fight the constitutionality of the e-toll bill signed by President Jacob Zuma in September.

FF Plus spokesman Anton Alberts said at the time the party, agricultural union TAU SA, and the National Taxpayers' Association would launch an application in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.

He said the bill was classified incorrectly and they would launch the application as a separate association, the Toll Gate Action Group.

Both parties argue that e-tolling would affect the competency of provincial government and municipalities by affecting urban planning, public transport, and traffic regulations.

Outa said the applications would give the Gauteng legislature another chance to scrutinise the rationality and desirability of e-tolling.

"The judiciary could now do a great service to society by referring the matter back to the legislature for proper debate, which is what should have happened at the outset, following a thorough public participation process," Duvenage said.

On September 25 Zuma signed into law the e-tolling enabling legislation, the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill. A legal challenge to e-tolling by Outa was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal on October 9.

Outa announced on October 18 that it did not have enough money to continue the legal fight against e-tolling. Outa's argument remained that the SA National Roads Agency Ltd and government did not conduct a proper public participation process.


Source : Sapa /dm/hdw/th/jk
Date : 12 Nov 2013 14:27
 
Cosatu Joburg e-tolls march starts

Cosatu's march against e-tolling started in Braamfontein, central Johannesburg, on Thursday morning.

Marchers gathered at Cosatu's head office in Jorissen street at 8.30am, and left shortly before 11am to deliver memorandums to the labour department, the provincial transport department, the office of the MEC for transport, the Gauteng legislature and the Gauteng premier.

The final leg of the march would be to deliver memorandums to the SA Chamber of Mines, the Johannesburg central police station, the office of the auditor general, and the Hawks.


Source : Sapa /mr/aa/cls/jje
Date : 14 Nov 2013 11:17 OrigID : LP733979
 
*** if I had a courier company I'd be complaining about Cosatu trying to take over my turf.
 
E-toll announcement expected soon

While Gauteng awaits the inevitable whistle for e-tolling to begin, the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) says there has been an uptake in e-tag sales, and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) says it expects "massive" resistance to what it believes is an unjustly conceived, impractical money-raising project.

This comes as transport minister Dipuo Peters is expected to announce a commencement date – likely to be early December – for open road tolling in Gauteng, as the e-toll tariff process has drawn to a close.

The e-toll tariffs – published on the same day Outa's final legal fight in the Supreme Court of Appeal ended unsuccessfully – were online for 30 days, during which the public could comment. At the time, the Department of Transport (DOT) said it would collate the input it had received before issuing a notice of commencement and, about 14 days later, switch on the e-toll system.

Sanral and the DOT have been criticised in the past for not taking public opinion into account, despite carrying out its obligatory task of inviting comment. Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona says the two parties, which are instrumental in running and maintaining Gauteng's e-roads, have always followed legal procedure in the execution of the public participation process.

"The courts have vindicated us on this very point. Therefore, we are not going do anything different this time around. We will simply continue to do everything by the book."

See also

Asked whether e-toll tariffs will be lowered at all, following the commencement of e-tolling, Mona says the latest toll fees already have discounts factored into them. "We do not see any further discounts in the near future."

Ongoing action

Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage cites sources as saying the go-live date for e-tolls is likely to be the first week in December – two weeks away – while the notice announcement, which must be followed by a 14-day period before e-tolling can physically begin, is expected this week.

"If [Peters] announces today, this gives them a 2 December launch date. They can't wait much longer if they want to launch this year, which they have clearly indicated they intend to do."

DOT spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso previously said he would not put a date to it, but said the last leg of the process would be the issuing of notice of commencement, two weeks before the system would go live. "So you can do the maths. I don't want to commit to a date."

Meanwhile, various groups – including the Democratic Alliance (DA), Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and Freedom Front Plus – have been intensifying their efforts to thwart government's planned e-toll system.

The DA says Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane will call a press conference tomorrow to announce further anti-toll campaign plans, which he says will focus on working together with communities opposed to the new road tax. This comes about two weeks after the party filed court papers to have the e-toll Bill sent back to Parliament for re-tagging.

Duvenage has welcomed what he says were successful and peaceful protests against e-tolls by Cosatu last week and says the alliance is "encouraged to see continued efforts from all sectors of society in opposition to e-tolls".

He believes, given public resistance and additional litigation challenges by political parties, authorities should be concerned about the legality of e-tolls. "We are convinced there will be a legal challenge, or possibly hundreds, brought against the system by those who are summonsed for not paying e-tolls, as has been claimed by many throughout public and social media forums and during surveys."

He says the introduction of e-tolls could be the "tipping point" for citizens' frustrations, especially in this case where society feels vindicated and empowered in their decision not to participate in this unjust policy.

Now that Outa is out of the courtroom, Duvenage says Outa is finalising new strategies "to empower society with their rights and knowledge to exercise civil courage and stand together to stave off this irrational policy".
Click to expand...

http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69090
 
...the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) says there has been an uptake in e-tag sales...
Click to expand...
I’m guessing the perpetually-bored-out-of-their-skin attendants at the East Rand Mall e-Toll kiosk weren’t informed of this.
 
More e-toll gantries coming to Gauteng: DA's Maimane

The existing gantries on the highways are only the first phase of the e-tolling project, DA Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane said on Tuesday.

He said the SA National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) intended to put up more gantries and extend e-tolling.

"It is expected that at least 300km of the province's highways will be tolled in phase two of the project," Maimane told reporters in Johannesburg.

"It is likely that this will be pushed through in the same manner as the existing phase, without proper consultation and at great expense."

Maimane urged Gauteng residents to make their vote count next year against e-tolling.

"The battle is on right now and the secondary phase of that [battle for the Democratic Alliance] is through the vote and ultimately the prospect of being in government," he said.

"I encourage everyone to take their opposition to the ballot box next year. Their vote will determine the trajectory of tolling in this province."

Maimane said a DA-led government would hold a referendum on e-tolling in the province.

"Residents would be able to vote whether they want tolling or not."
Click to expand...

http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2013/11/19/more-e-toll-gantries-coming-to-gauteng-da-s-maimane
 
I think he is just driving more votes, which is all fine and well. We all know if SANRAL are allowed to get away with these current eTolls, they will just erect more. Not just in Gauteng, either. So those of you in other provinces, who say "Ah, its Gauteng's, problem, not ours" Think again...
 
E-tag: Millions Unsold

The SA National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) is sitting with over 1.4 million unsold e-tags, according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.

“Sanral procured 2,107,000 e-tags over the past three years; [a total of] 1,427,900 have not been allocated,” she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

The figures imply 679,100 e-tags have been sold.

Six weeks ago, Sanral CEO Nazir Ali said 600,000 e-toll tags were in circulation.

In September, President Jacob Zuma signed into law the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill, giving Sanral the nod to start e-tolling on Gauteng’s freeways.

In her reply, Peters said Sanral had spent about R25.3 million during the period January to October this year on campaigns to encourage the public to buy e-tags.

This was in addition to about R11.3 million spent in November and December last year.

http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/49698/e-tags-millions-unsold/
 
IIRC rental vehicles account for around 100 000 vehicles in SA, and all SA rentals will need e-tags in case a driver takes the car to JHB. While I don't have the stats on me, I think the number of Gauteng trucks amounted to around a similar number. I recall that in 2011 there were around 16500 new trucks sold, according to data I remember seeing on RGT. We then have fleet management vehicles, which I'd hazard at around 30,000 in Gauteng. So a large portion of that is made up of e-tags bought out of necessity. I'd imagine up to 1/3rd of those sales are made up of forced purchases.

This means that about 450 000 vehicles have been voluntarily tagged. This amounts to a 15% voluntary compliance ratio. Using my previous calculator where I plugged the figures in to discover how much we really need to pay each month for e-tolls to simply pay their debt without defaulting (around R2100 per month), these 450 000 people would need to pay R9600 per month (yes, per month), just for Sanral to afford to pay its debt.

This system is not financially viable, no matter how you look at it. Even with a 100% compliance rate of every live, registered vehicle in Gauteng, every single vehicle would still need to pay, on average, around R1200 per month just for Sanral to be able to afford to repay its debt. But we know that the majority of the income derived from e-tolling goes straight out of the country, so we're actually looking at a far higher figure than that. That's just the perfect-world, no taxation, no profit-split environment...
 
DJ... said:
IIRC rental vehicles account for around 100 000 vehicles in SA, and all SA rentals will need e-tags in case a driver takes the car to JHB. While I don't have the stats on me, I think the number of Gauteng trucks amounted to around a similar number. I recall that in 2011 there were around 16500 new trucks sold, according to data I remember seeing on RGT. We then have fleet management vehicles, which I'd hazard at around 30,000 in Gauteng. So a large portion of that is made up of e-tags bought out of necessity. I'd imagine up to 1/3rd of those sales are made up of forced purchases.

This means that about 450 000 vehicles have been voluntarily tagged. This amounts to a 15% voluntary compliance ratio.
Click to expand...

You forgot to add the state fleets.
 
The use of the word "unallocated" tells me that they've allocated 600000 +- etags to retailers and the kiosks etc.. that it doesn't necessarily mean they've been sold to end users just yet.
 
So apparently they are going to announce the start of e-tolling tomorrow morning.

My guess is that OUTA was correct about the December 2nd date.
 
Garyvdh said:
So apparently they are going to announce the start of e-tolling tomorrow morning.

My guess is that OUTA was correct about the December 2nd date.
Click to expand...

Still not going to pay for it, doesn't matter when it starts.
 
Heard on the radio this morning the Peters is calling OUTA piers and the 2nd December date is not true...
 
Not buying and not getting it. And will be politely hostile to any sanral employee that stops me due to overdue amounts.
In fact. I think its good manners if we stop when we see them pulling anyone else over. Just to check if everything is ok.
I'll do it for you if you do it for me.
 
Compton_effect said:
Not buying and not getting it. And will be politely hostile to any sanral employee that stops me due to overdue amounts.
In fact. I think its good manners if we stop when we see them pulling anyone else over. Just to check if everything is ok.
I'll do it for you if you do it for me.
Click to expand...

That's actually not a bad idea. They will probably try to bully old ladies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X