ANC MPs angry about their wrong e-toll bills

The City Press reported that ANC members of parliament were furious after they received e-toll bills from Sanral despite the fact that their cars were locked up and unused in Cape Town over the billing period.

Ruth Bhengu, chairperson for the National Assembly portfolio committee on transport, blamed cloned number plates for the e-toll billing problem.

It is not only MPs who have fallen victim to incorrect e-toll billing. Numerous road users have complained about incorrect e-toll bills, with some motorists who have never travelled on Gauteng’s roads receiving large invoices from Sanral.

Fake and cloned number plates are blamed for some of these incorrect billing, especially in cases where motorists did not travel on Gauteng freeways.

Zurika Louw, CEO of the South African number plate association (SANA), said in an interview with ENCA that cloning a number plate is very easy.

According to Louw anyone can purchase the materials needed to clone a plastic number plate at a hardware store or a sign shop. “If you have a computer and a printer, you can make a number plate,” she said.

Louw said that cloning an aluminium number plate is far more difficult and needs special equipment.

However, a lack of regulation in South Africa on number plates make it easy for criminals and illegal number plate outlets to create cloned plates.

Bhengu said that they are now looking at a system where it will be far more difficult to clone number plates.

City Press quotes Bhengu as saying that they are looking at a special process “where you verify that you are the owner of that car and no other car has that registration”.

More on e-tolls

E-tolls blamed for the rise in cloned plates

Don’t just listen to Sanral, Outa urges MPs

Why e-tolls are unconstitutional

Why e-tolls are ridiculous: economist