The Gauteng E-tolling Thread

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http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/54595/sanral-right-about-e-tolls/?preview=true
Sanral right about e-tolls?
In August 2013, Sanral reasoned that a majority of e-tagged motorists using Gauteng's e-toll roads would only pay under R100 per month - and it would appear that they were right.

In August 2013, the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) reasoned that a majority of e-tagged motorists using Gauteng’s e-toll roads would only pay under R100 per month – and it would appear that they were right.

Speaking out against “incorrect figures” surrounding the controversial Gauteng e-tolling system last year, Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona pointed out that calculations done by the road agency indicated that only a small portion of road users would ever pay the capped R450 toll fee per month.

Sanral said that costs to motorists would likely be split in the following way:

83% will pay less than R100;
10% will pay R101-R200;
2% will pay R201-R300; and
0.59% will pay R300-R450.
Mona said that as few as 4,700 motorists would pay the capped R450 amount, noting that the costs would be almost double for those who do not have an e-tag.

In a press release issued on Wednesday (19 March) Sanral revealed official figures relating to revenues collected by the e-tolling system since its implementation on 3 December 2013.

The agency announced that it had earned R250.8 million from the system over the past 3 months, up to 28 February 2014.

It noted further that, by the end of February, 964,886 road users had purchased and e-tag, with some 277,431 users opting for the Vehicle Licence Number plate registration, bringing total registered users to just over 1.24 million.

Assuming total revenue collected by Sanral came from registered users – on average, motorists spent R202 over the 3-month period – R67.40 per month.

This is in-line with Sanral’s calculations made in 2013 – even if Sanral’s revenue was collected solely from the 964,886 e-tagged users, which then averages to R86.64.

More notably, the agency reported that it had identified the 2.5 million vehicles using Gauteng’s roads, along with a total revenue booking of R953 million for the 3-month period.

Currently, Sanral’s booked revenue of R953 million works out to an average of R318 million per month, meaning that, on average, all road users amassed average bills of R381 for the three months – or R127 per month.

A matter of tags

It stands to reason that, without a detailed breakdown of revenue distribution or similar indication from Sanral, money earned would most likely be coming from e-tagged and registered users.

The fewer tagged and registered road users there are, the higher the extrapolated average amount per user will be.

Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) head, Howard Dembovsky and Outa lead, Wayne Duvenage have long contested e-tag figures released by Sanral.

Additionally, hinging off of statement made by transport minister Dipuo Peters that between 23% and 28% of the daily users of Gauteng’s e-roads have e-tags, the opposition groups determined that this indicates that, at best, 72% of road users are not tagged.

This would mean that of the 2.5 million vehicles identified by Sanral only 600,000 – 700,000 vehicles are tagged and between 1.8 and 1.9 million are not.

“If Sanral is indeed getting paid ‘more than R300 million a month’ on e-tolls, as was claimed by Nazir Alli…from up to 28% of their registered users and some of the unregistered users who may have paid, then the assertions by Mr Patrick Craven of Cosatu that the e-toll tariffs are way too high hold a great deal of water,” Dembovsky said.

In this scenario, the average e-toll bill per user spikes up to between R119 and R140.

Average e-toll bills, registered road users, Dec 2013 – Feb 2014

Registered Road Users Revenue Average (3 months)
Average per month
1,240,000 R250.8 million R202.25 R67.42
964,886 R250.8 million R259.93 R86.64
700,000 R250.8 million R358.28 R119.42
600,000 R250.8 million R418.00 R139.33
Average e-toll bills, Total road users, Dec 2013 – Feb 2014

Road Users Revenue Average (3 months)
Average per month
2,500,000* R953.0 million** R381.20 R127.06
* Identified users ** Nominal revenue
No trust

Outa’s head, Wayne Duvenage, maintained that any compliance to the system thus far has been borne out of fear and intimidation from Sanral and interested parties, not belief and trust in the system.

“We don’t believe the vast majority of the users will pay below R100, if indeed they were ever going to tag up and do so.”

Duvenage said that Sanral has never been factual and open about its figures, and has continuously manipulated its data so as to create and impression that people are buying into e-tolls, that revenue generation is at an acceptable level, and all is well.

He also noted that the some 37% compliant motorists were made up by large corporates and government fleets – with “formidable” opposition from the public, which is reflective in Sanral’s cash flow.

“The short and simple reality of this matter is that as a user pays system, the system is not working. You cannot have a system whereby some users pay, whilst others don’t,” Duvenage told BusinessTech.

“A vast minority of the users are paying, the system is falling well below its R260 million per month requirement – which by the way, they have reduced to R200 million for some reason.”

“How long will or can they go on for? For as long as Treasury props Sanral up with fuel levy revenues to make up the shortfall,” Duvenage said.
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Anyone with a new car received a bill yet for the temporary license number in the back of your car's window. Nobody could answer the question on how SANRAL will bill these cars.
 
Jladan said:
So I went today to pay my extortion amounts due to being unregistered, apparently now the etoll places are unable to print detailed invoices, so I am not able to pay my invoices. I now now left with no way to pay the right amount wtf ????!
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The fact that you actually tried to pay means that you dear sir failed HARD!!
 
I unfortunately am in a position where I can't afford to mess around with any kind of enforcement and legal issues due to my employment and requirements around that , so I make it as hard as possible to comply and make them have to prove each and every invoice and transaction. I also make it clear that each payment I make is under duress. It unfortunately all I can do to resist at this point
 
creeper said:
Anyone with a new car received a bill yet for the temporary license number in the back of your car's window. Nobody could answer the question on how SANRAL will bill these cars.
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They can't.
 
Worrying revelations from inside Kapsch :

He also says the control centre in Midrand is the second largest tolling system in the Southern hemisphere and Sanral’s decision to set it up added R2.5 billion to the project’s overall cost.

“Sanral had an ambition for the system to be planned and designed on the assumption that open road tolling would be implemented on a national scale, whereas [Kapsch] were of the opinion that the risk factors were too high, and argued for an incremental approach, starting in Gauteng,” reads the affidavit.

“Sanral insisted that the Central Operations Centre must have the capacity to handle several thousands kilometres of road with gantries erected to gather data from across the country, starting with Gauteng, but extending soon afterwards to national roads in KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape.”
 
http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/54982/e-tolls-pushing-consumers-over-the-edge/

E-tolls pushing consumers over the edge
New applications for debt counselling continues to show an upward trend in the first quarter of 2014, with e-tolls a major contributor in pushing consumers into over-indebtedness.

This is according to debt management firm, Debt Rescue.

Bongi Radebe, head of operations at Debt Rescue pointed out that the increase cannot only be attributed to e-tolls, however, “as other economic factors such as the petrol price, interest rates and inflation that have been on the rise this year. And these factors have a considerable knock on effect on all consumers.”

“However, we are still of the view that e-tolls are a major contributor in pushing consumers into over-indebtedness,” Radebe said.

He said that, even though “an honorable, legal-action-fearing and yet a financially constrained motorist”, purchases an e-tag for his or her monthly commute, they still have to pay R500.

“This monthly fee might not seem steep for some consumers, but it is enough to push consumers who find themselves on the financial knife’s edge and will definitely result in them defaulting on their debt obligations,” Radebe said.

The controversial Gauteng e-toll system went live on 3 December.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said it was progressing in registering vehicles, with a figure of 1.24 million users registered by end of February 2014.

“We made Parliament understand that there were no major issues with registered users and that of the 1.2 million registered users, 964,886 (78%) users had purchased an e-tag, with the remainder of 277,431 (22%) opting for the Vehicle Licence Number plate registration,” said Sanral CEO, Nazir Alli.

“We also conceded to Parliament that where we have issues is with unregistered users and the majority of queries included cloned number plates and vehicles without number plates – which we are attending to as a matter of priority and is being done in conjunction with the Department of Transport,” he said.

According to Sanral, since toll commencement, approximately the 2.5 million vehicles have been identified on the Gauteng network.

Sanral has clarified that a previous figure of 999,310 e-tags issued and 282,806 VLNs registered was reflective of total e-tags in March. This would indicate that, to date in March (19th), 34,424 e-tags had been added.
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Now just imagine this on a national scale.
 
Sinbad said:
Worrying the plans for 7000km of etolled roads.
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Ah, understand. The thing is that SCAMRAL has repeatedly been threatening to etroll the entire country to hell but this is usually downplayed by the cANCer government, they all speak with forked tongue.
 
j4ck455 said:
Ah, understand. The thing is that SCAMRAL has repeatedly been threatening to etroll the entire country to hell but this is usually downplayed by the cANCer government, they all speak with forked tongue.
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Tone at the top. If the organization's head is a lying, thieving scumbag you can bet that those below him will lie and thieve too. Why would toll roads be any different?
 
Albereth said:
Tone at the top. If the organization's head is a lying, thieving scumbag you can bet that those below him will lie and thieve too. Why would toll roads be any different?
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If the country's head is a lying, thieving scumbag...
 
The following information is in addition to the information set forth in paragraph five under the heading “Public Finance—Guarantees of Public Enterprises—SANRAL” on page 117 of Exhibit 99.D of the Annual Report:

Major profitability indicators for SANRAL in 2013 year compare favorably to those for the previous year. This is primarily due to an increase in revenue and cost containment in both the toll and non-toll divisions.

Net profit for the non-toll division net profit decreased to R98.4 million from the R189.5 million achieved in the previous year. Although income has increased by 15%; expenditure (mainly operational expenditure on roads) increased by 10.6%.

The increase in depreciation costs and the decline in change in fair value of investments also had a negative impact on the net profit figure.

Net profit for the toll division increased to R1,290.4 million from the net loss of R2.7 billion achieved in the previous year.

The improvement is mainly as a result of the extraordinary grant received from the Government, as the toll business segment would otherwise have increased its loss from the previous year.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/932419/000119312514021685/d662396dex99d.htm
 
Ivan Leon said:
The following information is in addition to the information set forth in paragraph five under the heading “Public Finance—Guarantees of Public Enterprises—SANRAL” on page 117 of Exhibit 99.D of the Annual Report:

Major profitability indicators for SANRAL in 2013 year compare favorably to those for the previous year. This is primarily due to an increase in revenue and cost containment in both the toll and non-toll divisions.

Net profit for the non-toll division net profit decreased to R98.4 million from the R189.5 million achieved in the previous year. Although income has increased by 15%; expenditure (mainly operational expenditure on roads) increased by 10.6%.

The increase in depreciation costs and the decline in change in fair value of investments also had a negative impact on the net profit figure.

Net profit for the toll division increased to R1,290.4 million from the net loss of R2.7 billion achieved in the previous year.

The improvement is mainly as a result of the extraordinary grant received from the Government, as the toll business segment would otherwise have increased its loss from the previous year.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/932419/000119312514021685/d662396dex99d.htm
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Which was R5bn... so it should actually have been a net loss of R3.71bn
 
http://www.fin24.com/Economy/E-toll-debt-already-more-than-R543m-20140402

Cape Town - Gauteng motorists have run up more than half a billion rand in overdue fees since the province's e-tolling system started on December 3 last year, according to Transport Minister Dipuo Peters.

Less than 10% of this has been paid.

"I am informed that... as at March 1 [this year] an amount of R543 544 574 worth of invoices were transferred to the VPC [Violations Processing Centre]," she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

The VPC is the debt-collection division within the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) responsible for the collection and processing of overdue e-toll transactions.

Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said the R543.5m included both those motorists with e-tags who had overdue accounts, as well as those who had not registered, but were picked up by the tolling system.

"It relates to those people who have amounts outstanding, whether registered or not," he said.

Mona could not immediately say what percentage of Gauteng motorists had registered to date.

In her response to the parliamentary question - posed by Democratic Alliance MP Ian Ollis - Peters also revealed that "an amount of R54 735 638 (excluding VAT) has been expended in the collection of the debt".

This figure included R32.8m "for postage and printing of invoices" and a further R21.9m for "the cost of debt collection processes".

However, responding to a second parliamentary question, Peters said of the total of R543.5m transferred to the VPC, only R50 043,487, or 9.21%, had been paid as at February 28.
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Keep on fighting the good fight people.
 
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/government/100064-truth-about-e-tolls-and-criminal-records-jpsa.html

Truth about e-tolls and criminal records: JPSA
The Justice Project South Africa explains the process that will have to be followed by Sanral to prosecute people who do not pay for e-tolls

The Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) released a press statement on 4 April 2014, in which it aimed to set the record straight on the process that will have to be followed by Sanral to prosecute people who do not pay for e-tolls.

According to the JPSA, Sanral CFO Inge Mulder has made a claim that the courts will easily cope with the volumes of e-toll prosecutions Sanral intends bringing at some time in the future. Mulder cited the “rollup” of offences into a single summons as her reasoning for this.

“Whilst it is true that Sanral may indeed, through the clerk of the court, issue a single summons to an individual – citing multiple counts of the same offence, it is not true that “bulk decisions will be made” against similar cases as was suggested by John Robbie and agreed with by Mulder,” the JPSA said.

According to the JPSA, each and every offender will have to be summonsed individually for their own matter and the normal criminal justice system and procedures will apply in line with the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Act.

“Mulder also said that the courts could “process a huge amount of them every day” and this is somewhat optimistic, given the current workload on the courts,” the JPSA said.

Mulder said that of the 2.5 million daily road users – which could equate to a much higher actual number of vehicles, given that both Sanral and the Minister of Transport have said that not all vehicles/users use the GFIP every day – 1.2 million have registered with Sanral.

She then cites this as limiting the amount of individuals that will have to be summonsed and prosecuted but seems to forget that this still leaves 1.3 million users at minimum who are not registered.

“If a mere 10% of those people do not pay, then 130,000 individual summonses will have to be issued and served and those who don’t pay admission of guilt fines – thereby automatically incurring a criminal record – will have to be tried in court,” said the JPSA.

“The collective lower (Magistrates) courts in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni simply cannot deal with such volumes and even if they could, Magistrates whose pensions are invested in Sanral e-tolls bonds would be hard-pressed to demonstrate their impartiality in these matters and hence, why they should not recuse themselves from presiding over the matters.”

The JPSA has repeatedly stated that the South African criminal justice system, let alone the courts in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni cannot deal with the volume of e-tolls prosecutions that will have to ensue at some stage or another and we maintain this stance.

“We also maintain our stance that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act applies in the jurisdictions of the JMPD and the TMPD and to date, despite having referred the matter to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development after an initial dismissive response by SANRAL’s attorneys, the Minister of Transport has still failed to answer our lawyer’s letter dated 26 November 2013 and subsequent letters thereafter.”

The JPSA said that whatever happens, a “test case” will have to be brought before the High Court to establish whether the methodology behind e-toll prosecutions is correct and indeed, whether defaulters may be prosecuted in the manner that Sanral is proposing.

“Zwelinzima Vavi, Mark Heywood, Bishop Geoff Davies, Wayne Duvenage, Father Mike Deeb, Kay Sexwale and Howard Dembovsky have all invited such a test case by refusing to pay e-tolls but it remains to be seen whether Sanral and the NPA has the guts to take these offers up,” it added.

The JPSA said that the process that will have to be followed by Sanral is as follows:

Issue final demands and deliver them by registered mail;
If ignored, gather each count into a summons in terms of Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Act (Act 51 of 1977) for each individual;
Get court dates for each of the individual summonses;
Have the Sheriff, a traffic officer or a policeman serve summonses on individuals;
Have the matter heard in a competent and unbiased criminal Court.
“Only if an individual pays an admission of guilt fine or is found guilty in court will they get a criminal record,” the JPSA said.

Outa comment on Sanral statements

In a related press statement, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said that Sanral CFO Inge Mulder made a mockery of the Judicial system by stating that summonses will be easily processed by rolling up every individual’s invoices into one charge and that bulk cases would be easily handled by the courts.

“The judicial system is not the handmaid of Sanral. It exists to ensure justice prevails,” said Outa spokesperson John Clarke.

“The statements made by the Sanral CFO completely ignores the fact the each person’s case has to be heard individually and that there are thousands or possibly even hundreds of thousands of people who have simply no idea of how the system works.”

“The tariff structure is misleading, invoices have numerous errors, Sanral’s call centres are unable to answer or deal with queries, not to mention the incorrect information which the e-toll administration processes rely on,” he added.

He added that Sanral cannot harass and threaten potential charges against innocent people who are not even using these freeways.

“Furthermore, Sanral still needs to convince a court why it conducted a diabolical and most feeble public engagement process in 2007/8, as well as providing the Minister of Transport with misleading information and other pertinent irrational matters that challenge citizen’s constitutional rights at the time of the e-Toll decision being made.”
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